It's Always Sunny in Hell
by Lily-lamaire
Summary: When the Hell rings start spreading darkness like a disease, the Eleventh generation of Vongola guardians must go back to the past to save the mafia world from ripping itself apart. Only problem? They were sent back in a rush, completely split across the world, the Tenth generation is convinced they're out to kill the Ninth and the Eleventh is still a bitch and a Xanxus fanboy.
1. NEVER join the mafia

If Viviane was to ever have children, the first words of wisdom she would share with them were the following: never, even if the world was to come to an end, _ever_ get involved with the mafia.

It was a mantra to live by.

Now, of course, it's easy to think 'But it's common sense!', 'Why the mafia in particular? Stay away from crime!' or ' _Duh_ , that's what the law says'. Obviously, hanging around the mafia was likely to get one killed or locked up. Most would even consider that the warning wasn't even needed. I mean, how often does a parent have to tell their kid 'Don't commit murder, honey, it's not worth a shiny bulbasaur'? Never. Because society hammers that kind of advice in everyone's head naturally.

Not to mention all the books, all the movies and all those atrociously exotic crimes depicted in the news which effectively showed how _violent_ and _dark_ the underworld was. It took a particularly sadistic, reckless, adrenaline-junkie-ish breed of human to dive into that sea willingly.

But that wasn't the issue.

When Viviane said never, she meant it _religiously_.

And not because of all the shooting around and death defying situations.

Okay, _partly_ because of all the shooting around and death defying situations, but mostly, it was simply because the world of mafia was not for the mentally sane. Sure, her children would probably experience the value of law and safety themselves but what was the point of a warning if not to speak of dangers unknown as a way to prevent them? Her children would never have to experience a Vongola-style summer camp or a Vongola-style internship, she hoped, all thanks to her words.

Good lord, the memories.

Summer camps? Internships? Well didn't that sound like a big ball of fun and productivity? It wasn't. Trust her, anything attached to 'Vongola-style' was not fun.

Especially Vongola-style escape plans.

Granted, it had been _her_ plan. In her defence though, had it not been intimately linked to a Vongola-style internal chaos, a Vongola-style suicide mission and a Vongola-style string of misfortunes that eventually lead to having to improvise more than just a bit, Viviane would not have been stuck in another one of those Vongola-style messed up situations that could make a good plot for an episode of Adventure Time.

But there she was anyway. No point in crying over spilled milk, right?

Besides, it wasn't like she had the energy to cry.

Viviane was standing in a narrow alleyway, in Namimori. It was the only remotely dark place she had found in the middle of the day because somewhere along the line, she had started preferring the dark to the light. Stupid, _stupid_ mafia.

 _There was a reason why the dark was so often associated with crime and deceit, why people feared it so much. The dark was the perfect cover, after all: you never knew what could hide under it. The night was the time of secrets and anyone who chose to live under the stars rather than the blue sky was likely to have quite a few of those. Now, having secrets is not always a bad thing, but it is human nature to fear the unknown. The wisest would even call it caution._

 _However, too much caution could entice paranoia which is why, Viviane reasoned, it was sometimes important to shed light on the dark, just to be sure nothing truly bad slept in there. So, following this thought, it was perfectly justified to intrude on her brother's private life, right? I mean, it was a question of saving her family's unity and all…_

 _Totally justified._

 _Besides, Peter was probably just having an illicit affair with the wife of a rich man. Why else would he sneak away every night? What else was worth getting into a fight with their father and breaking the family apart?_

 _Under the cover of the night, the fifteen year old sat behind a wall in the smaller streets of Namimori. Despite her black hoodie and dark tracksuit, she wasn't exactly hard to see due to the screen of her laptop lighting her face up like a jellyfish from the deep sea. Not that it mattered; her brother - who she was currently stalking for very valid reasons - was far ahead._

Right. That had been how it had all started. There really was no other explanation to how Viviane, an innocent law-abiding citizen, had ended up entangled in international crime.

Then again, there was also the luck factor. Who knew the small district of Namimori was home to the most powerful friggin' mafia family in friggin' world? Fate hated her, she decided, from the very moment it decided to let her grow up in such a messed up place.

Viviane backed up against the wall of the alley, still catching her breath. Her lungs felt heavy and blocked and the air she breathed in was never enough. There was a reason she never did any sports, dammit! She was in a downright pathetic state and it wasn't hard to see. The girl was red, sweating, covered in dirt, scratches and dried blood and her glasses were cracked. Luckily, the huge stain of blood on her hoodie blended with its black colour. It wasn't hers but God knew it looked suspicious as hell.

It was hot too. So very hot.

But Viviane couldn't find the strength to tie her long, not-so-blond-now-that-it-was-covered-in-who-knows-what hair or to remove her hoodie. Instead, she let her messenger bag slide of her shoulder and hit the floor, quickly following it to the ground herself.

Oh, did she forget to mention?

She was stuck twenty five years in the past.

And she had no clue where the others were.

Never, _ever_ get involved with the mafia.

" _T-Tenth!" Peter, Viviane's brother, spluttered, "Is it really alright to tell her?"_

 _Sky man's eyes landed on Peter, analysing him for a few second. Then, they shifted to Viviane, and a small knowing smile bloomed on his face. Viviane felt her cheeks heat up. He knew. He knew she had come here for a really childish reason. Somehow he just knew._

" _Well I have a deal for her." Sky man revealed, his eyes suddenly reminding Viviane of a predatory bird. "See, we are very powerful family in the world. If we want we can easily track every single one of your movements and make your life as miserable as possible. Being our enemy, no one will ever hire or help you. And make no mistake, you_ are _our enemy. Trespassing into our headquarters is a grave attack."_

 _To say Viviane was horrified at that prospect was an understatement._

" _You could always denounce us to the police." Sky man suggested, "But people have tried before and I can assure you that we're not the ones standing in a cell for thirty years."_

 _Viviane gulped._

" _Of course, we will not be doing any of the above as long as you agree to do something for me."_

 _Alarm bells sounded in Viviane's head. Still, she couldn't exactly just walk away from this place. "W-What is it?" She warily asked._

" _Tutor my son."_

…

" _Could you repeat that?"_

 _Viviane may have been the one to speak that sentence but it was pretty damn clear it reflected the general mood in the room. Peter, the Pervert and the Cow looked just as shocked at the statement._

 _Sky man chuckled, "I'd like you to tutor my youngest son, Sawada Yoshimune."_

 _Viviane blinked. "What, he gets bad grades?"_

" _Oh no." Sky man replied, "Unlike I was, he's quite the decent student."_

" _Then…?"_

 _"I want you to teach him to be the perfect mafia boss."_

…

" _I'm sorry but," Viviane deadpanned, unamused, "You want me, a_ fifteen year old girl, _to teach your son how to be a_ mafia boss _, a.k.a. an international evil mastermind, knowing that the biggest crime I have ever committed in my life was stealing an eraser when I was, like, four?"_

" _Which school are you currently attending?" Sky man asked, opening his laptop._

" _Namimori American High but-"_

" _Starting on Monday, you'll be going to Namimori High School." Sky man happily decided, probably arranging her transfer already._

" _What? But-"_

" _Studying in japanese won't be a problem, I hope?"_

" _No, but-"_

" _Great. Peter will bring you everything you need tomorrow. Will your father believe in a sudden scholarship?"_

" _Probably, but-"_

" _Then that's settled. I'm sure you'll make a lot of new friends and-"_

" _Oi…" Viviane muttered but she gave up mid-way. It didn't look like she was going to be heard anytime soon. Well, whatever. She knew she could very well protest and protest and have as much impact as the sneeze of a shrimp. She could just nod and go along with it, there was no point in fighting the man, obviously._

" _Yes?"_

 _Viviane startled when he suddenly addressed her._

 _And then she realised that somehow, she feared that man._

 _For a second there, she had completely forgotten who she had been talking to. It was so easy to drop one's guars around that person that it was hardly fair. He was without a doubt a powerful man but he looked so defenceless, so human. She had fallen in a banter that felt familiar, she had loosened all her defences, all her caution._

" _I don't know the first thing about being in the mafia." she stressed, her body tensing once more "I'm sorry, but I can't do what you ask of me. It's not humanly possible."_

" _It is_ because _you are ignorant of the ways of the mafia that I want you to do it." Sky man explained, confident in his decision. "Shape him into a great man, it's all I ask."_

" _How-?"_

" _How you see fit."_

" _But-"_

After a few minutes, Viviane's body had cooled down enough but she was still unsure as to what to do. Sure, going to the past had been part of the plan, but sticking together had been too.

 _Dammit Yoshi_ , Viviane thought, _You'd better find me quickly!_

The safe thing to do in her situation was to wait for her friends to locate her, otherwise, they risked missing each other. However, Viviane didn't know if the others had even been sent to same _day_. For all she knew, she could wait a month before any of them showed up. Chances were that the gap wasn't that big but the trip hadn't exactly been smooth and bumpless.

At least, the air was clean.

Deciding to move out, Viviane retrieved her bag and stood up, using the wall as support. She had to find a place to stay. Food and bed sure sounded like a million bucks at the moment. Man, when was the last time she had been allowed such luxury?

Stupid, _stupid_ mafia.

Back in her days (and didn't that just sound like an old lady talking), Viviane had known where all the hotels were. A lot of them had been built during Namimori's rise to financial excellence though (mostly funded by a certain _famiglia_ which had taken root there), in the last twenty years. Or, was it the next twenty five years minus the five immediate ones? This was going to get really confusing.

Point is, her sense of direction wasn't really up to date. Or outdated enough. Whatever. Her computer couldn't even connect to the wifi here! She was definitely going to have to make a few updates.

 _Ugh_.

Viviane stepped out of the small alley and into the world of the living. She honestly hoped her appearance could pass for… Something. Something that wasn't being on the run from a contagious, possessed-but-already-initially-quite-deranged mafioso for the past year. Perhaps killing him in the past would help…

No. While probably strangely therapeutic, Viviane knew better than to start another mess. Plus, it would take a lot of planing, of locating, of explaining, of diplomatically trying to justify why they had stabbed a perfectly innocent mafioso from a neutral family and killed him by shoving an army of frogs down his throat, of many things, really, just to get that done.

All that, just to alter a timeline that wasn't even theirs. Viviane shook her head. For now, the idea would just have to be mental entertainment.

Viviane froze.

Her body reacted before her mind had any time to.

"Eep!" Viviane eloquently… said, her knees falling to the ground as soon as her eyes caught the sight of the projectile. She had _just_ gotten up for fuck's sake!

The window of the shop right around the corner of the alley she had been in crumbled, a few pieces of it showering Viviane.

A year of being on the run and three of unwillingly hanging around mafiosi daily engrained certain reflexes in people. As soon as she had touched the ground, Viviane forced her knees to jump, like a spring. She dived to the side, rolling once and her mind quickly went through everything she had with her, down to the last cent in the bottom of her pocket.

She settled for a shard of glass from the window that had broken. Viviane picked one up and moved to charge when a strong hand grabbed the armed wrist.

"Haha," The person laughed, "That's a bit dangerous. You might cut yourself."

Viviane ignored him and pulled her wrist towards her. The man didn't bulge; he was strong. However, Viviane's movement enabled her to spring towards him, to get close enough to embrace him and then to aim a gun, point-blank at his stomach.

They were in a populated area and Viviane couldn't just whip a gun out without attracting suspicion. Instead, she had plunged her free hand in her bag and jabbed the gun at the man through it.

"Whoa!" The boy exclaimed, surprised.

Viviane looked up to see who she was going against. He was young, younger than her. Maybe around fifteen, sixteen? He had short black hair and a friendly grin, despite his situation. He looked every bit the normal teenager without a problem in the world but Viviane knew better. His grip was steady and his body steeled. Moreover, she knew very well normal people didn't smile when they had a gun aimed at them.

Glancing around, Viviane ignored the two or three people who had stopped to watch out of curiosity for the projectile. She saw it bobbing left and right in the store.

A baseball.

Viviane looked at her opponent's free hand.

A baseball bat.

Something clicked. Why would anyone attack her in this time? They didn't know her. Hell, they shouldn't be able to _feel_ the rings here. Not only that but the boy felt strangely familiar. If she added a few centimetres, thickened his neck a bit, drew a scar here and there, grew the shade of a beard around his mouth, dressed him in a suit…

"Oh wait!" The boy said, "Do you not know how to speak Japanese? _Eto… Me… English speak no good_."

Well, Viviane did look western with her blond hair and blue eyes. She _was_ French after all.

She blinked. "I speak Japanese just fine." She told him.

"I'm sorry for almost knocking you out with that baseball." He laughed, letting go of her wrist and rubbing the back of his head apologetically, "We were playing in the park over there and…"

As he trailed off, Viviane looked at the park behind him. There was a shopping mall that doubled as mafia storage space there in her time. It was weird to see so much greenery instead. Among all the children there, one baby was particularly noteworthy. He was dressed in a black suit with a familiar hat and a familiar reptile on the head… Oh hell no.

"Could you maybe, uhm…" The boy, a fifteen year old Yamamoto Takeshi, asked, pointing at her bag, "Take that away?"

Viviane fell back on Earth and immediately stepped back and dropped the gun in her bag.

"I'm so sorry!" She apologised, letting go of the shard. At least now she knew the boy in front of her was not an enemy. She wasn't even born yet in this time, how on Earth could he already be antagonistic towards her?

The few people who had stopped by to watch relaxed and starting walking away, realising everything had just been a misunderstanding.

…

Viviane's hand reached into her bag once more. She still had the gun. The gun was with her. She repeats, the gun was with her. Where was the gun? With her. Not with Yoshi.

 _Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu-_

"Is everything alright?" Young Yamamoto asked her, looking concerned.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Viviane laughed awkwardly.

Yamamoto's eyes travelled over her body, and not in a _damn that girl's hot_ kind of way. Pity.

"I, er…" Viviane replied, "Just came back from…" _Don't say it don't say it don't say it_ "… A sumo wrestling tournament." _And she said it!_ Viviane just wanted to smash her face against a wall somewhere. The sumo wrestling tournament was a code phrase for members of the Vongola family to say when they were on a job. She had no idea how they came up with that but Viviane hadn't been able to make up a better excuse.

Shame on her, really. Out of all the Vongola members, Viviane was expected to do better than this sloppy performance!

But she was so tired… And hungry. Viviane couldn't even think straight. Viviane. Couldn't think. Imagine that. Oh Yoshi would have had a field trip with that bit of news.

 _growl_.

Viviane blushed.

"Are you hungry?" Yamamoto wondered as he retrieved his ball from the store. The store owner only shook his head tiredly at the teenager. He wasn't happy obviously but it seemed he liked the boy too much to truly be mad at him. Rain guardian indeed. "My dad owns a sushi place, if you want."

Viviane was about to answer but the aforementioned baby cut in. He had walked over to them in the meantime.

"You can't cut your training." The fedora wearing baby warned. His voice was innocent but there was a lot of threatening going on underneath that smile. Viviane had trouble believing that small thing was the hitman Reborn. He was so different from his adult self in the future… She _had_ heard about the Arcobelano curse of course but she had never imagined…

"Maa, maa…" Yamamoto tried to calm down the small baby, "I can't let a girl starve out here either, right?"

Reborn (the tiny, small Reborn) looked up and stared at Viviane suspiciously. If it wasn't unnerving enough to have one of the world's strongest hitmen visually dissect you to determine wether or not you're worth keeping alive, it certainly was when the baby snorted in conclusion.

What was that supposed to mean?

"It's on the house for me." Reborn decided as he started walking where Viviane guessed the sushi shop was.

"Haha, of course!" Yamamoto agreed cheerfully, "Come on!"

And that was how Viviane found herself sitting peacefully in a sushi shop, knowing that just an hour before, she had been engaged in a deadly war against some of the mafia's strongest men. She really was in a different world altogether.

"So, who are you?" Reborn asked as soon as they had settled down. He wasn't defensive but Viviane could guess he was a bit irritated. If there was anything she knew about her fellow tutor, it was that he hated no knowing things pertaining to the mafia. He had clearly seen her paranoid reaction earlier and deduced she wasn't a normal civilian (even if she totally was) already.

"Viviane." She answered truthfully. There was no point in lying to Reborn, especially not when one was a shit actress. Besides, she didn't exist in this world.

"Viviane?" Yamamoto repeated, bringing over hot cups of tea and then sitting with them, "Nice to meet you, I'm Yamamoto Takeshi and this here is Reborn."

"Ciaossu." Reborn greeted, before adding "Why are you so dirty? You stink."

"You think?" Viviane deadpanned, half tempted to remove her sweaty hoody and shove it in his nose. She decided against for self-preservation. To be honest, Viviane had no idea what type of thing her hoodie had gone through the past year. Washing machines didn't exactly pop up often when one was on the run. The Shimon family had been nice enough to let them use theirs but that had already been what? Two, three months ago? "As I said… Sumo wrestling."

It was painful to get those words out, painful to her pride.

"Why did you come to Namimori?" Reborn inquired.

"I'm… looking for someone." Viviane admitted, trying to be diplomatic, "I realise this town is Vongola territory but I mean no harm."

"Eh?" Yamamoto startled, "You're in this mafia thing too?"

Reborn kicked him for not noticing earlier.

Viviane grimaced in answer. "It's complicated. But really, I'm not an enemy."

Reborn snorted again. It wasn't a full blown snort like one would think, Reborn didn't do expressions. No, instead it was a small mocking smirk that just shouted he was looking down on someone.

"Even if you meant harm," Reborn smirked, "I doubt you'd be able to inflict much. You're not a fighter, are you?"

"H-How do you know?" Viviane stuttered.

"You never clicked the safety of your gun."

…

The safety? What safety? One half of Viviane's brain asked. You know, the part that prevents you from shooting yourself in the foot when you aren't aiming, the other answered.

Viviane blushed in embarrassment.

Okay, she had to admit using guns wasn't her thing. In fact, she had only shot a gun once in her whole lifetime and it had been a warning shot in the air. Yoshi could have warned her about the safety when he had lent her that gun the idiot! Then again, said idiot had probably assumed she had known.

And she should have known! That was just - embarrassing really didn't cut it. She had been in the mafia - ahem, _helping_ the mafia - for three years and she had forgotten about the security of a gun?

What else was she going to overlook next? The ammunition?

Viviane frowned. How many bullets _did_ that gun have? How was she supposed to recharge it afterwards?

There was someone she had to find… Which one was it? Urgent. Something was urgent…

"Er hello?" Someone said in a shy voice, "I heard Yamamoto was here…"

Viviane looked at the door.

 _The first time she had ever seen him had been in class._

 _Confidence, Viviane mused, confidence was the word to use to describe him. He was relaxed in his chair, his elbow propped on the table, his chin on his palm and his other hand hanging at the corner of his table like a King's on an armrest._

 _His eyes were sharp, dark brown and stormy. His light brown hair was wild except for the strands combed behind his left ear. It reminded Viviane of rabid lion's mane; savage but aristocratic at the same time. Had the teacher not said his name out loud, she would never have been able to associate him with his father. The air around him was too violent, too arrogant._

 _The boy barely looked at her as she walked past him._

 _The first time she had_ seen _him had been during a break._

 _Namimori High was bigger than Viviane's previous school and much neater. Perhaps the uniforms were responsible for that impression but Viviane clearly noticed the students were particularly well disciplined. Japanese spirit, maybe? No, that was ridiculous. Teenagers were teenagers. Besides, what kind of school didn't have at least one act of vandalism? One scribble at the corner of a bathroom stall?_

 _Viviane was almost relieved when she saw her 'pupil' bullying a student._

 _Her eyes drifted around the courtyard, bordered regularly by small trees and bushes. In the middle was a large, bare space on which were drawn various rectangles defining various courts to play various kinds of sports. There was even a badminton net rolled up and propped against the basketball net._

…

…

 _Wait._

 _Viviane's eyes shot back to the middle of the courtyard. Lo and behold, there_ He _was_ , _surrounded by his pack, a dozen of students of all genders. They were circling around a tall boy who seemed to be a third year. The older student was all red and clutching his school bag like it was his newborn child and Viviane suspected it wasn't from running a marathon._

 _Around him, the first years laughed maliciously._

" _Aw, come on,"_ He _chuckled, "There is nothing to be embarrassed about. You have very good taste in women. I'm not sure about your words, though…"_

" _I-I have to go…" The third year murmured, fidgeting around._

" _Go?" His bully shook his head ruefully, "And miss my advice? I'm trying to help you improve, you know? It would be foolish to refuse free feedback. And here I am trying to be kind!"_ He _deplored, amusing his classmates._

" _I'm - I'm grateful but I - I…" The third year stuttered, "I have no time… Work… For tomorrow…"_

" _Speak up Taketori!"_ He _ordered, "The back row can't hear you?"_

" _P-Please, let me go…" Taketori pleaded, shaking like a hanging light during an earthquake._

" _Perhaps I should speak for you then."_ He _suggested._ He _looked around for his crowd's approval and received cheers that belonged in a stadium._ He _nodded, a cruel grin plastered on his face. His friends laughed, cackled in the air like a pack of hyperactive hyenas. They booed, jabbed at their victim, whispered behind his back. They mocked him, ridiculed him and all was madness, really._

" _Sorry, Sawada-san, was it?" A beautiful third year asked, stepping into the courtyard confused. The social chaos was put on hold for a painful thirty seconds during which the graceful girl walked from the archways to the freak show. Taketori's eyes seemed to break little by little as she did. "I heard you were looking for me."_

 _The circle opened up like the Red sea to let her in, and then it swallowed her in._

" _Yes!"_ He _smiled, confidence oozing from everywhere, "My good friend Taketori here wanted me to read you his letter!"_

" _Taketori-kun's?"_

" _He's a bit too shy to do it himself, you see."_ He _winked. A few first years snickered._

" _Oh." The girl blinked, "Well, sure then."_

 _The mafioso took out a crumpled piece of paper and started reading, enunciating every word dramatically. "Beauty Beyond my reach, oh how the dark night sins. The moon, the stars, the glass, nothing fairs you justice. Only your laugh, your habits -"_

" _Stop!" The girl sighed, rubbing her eyes with two fingers, "Please… Just stop."_

He _did as asked and watched as the girl exhaled deeply and turned to her classmate._

" _Look, Taketori-kun." She started, unable to hide her disgust, "I'm sure you're a nice guy but I'm sorry, I can't reciprocate."_

" _I - It's fine." Taketori fretted, his voice much higher than it should be._

 _The girl moved to leave but she stopped in her track. "Also," she added, "Please don't ever write something like that about me again. It's… creepy."_

 _And then she did leave._

" _Oh, oops." The mafioso shrugged, "I'm sure it was the alliteration's fault."_

 _Taketori didn't answer. He had started sobbing and already, he couldn't find the strength to upkeep what little dignity he had left anymore. The older boy crumbled to the ground, looking thoroughly traumatised. His eyes were wide open, staring at the dirt on the ground and his arms were trembling slightly._

 _Believing the show to be over, the cloud of first years started dispersing, some still gossiping about what they had just witnessed._ He _high-fived a boy Viviane hadn't seen in class, a tall kid with a chipped ear. The two of them stood next to their victim for a while longer, only to give him their parting words._

" _What a pathetic piece of trash you are,"_ He _spat, his nose wrinkled and his eyes full of repugnance, like he was watching beetles fight for a pile of dung. His cruel smile had long gone, as if he couldn't even be bothered to stretch it. "Weak shits like you have no place in this world. Don't pretend to be human, lick the ground like the dog you are."_

 _Romantic goodbye settled, the two other boys lost interest in their toy and left it in the middle of the courtyard, for the janitor to pick up._

" _Get it now?" Rinka, a new classmate of Viviane's, asked, leaning against the wall next to the window from which they had watched the show._

" _What a brat." Viviane grimaced. She had no clue what the Vongola boss wanted her to teach him. Sawada Yoshimune was a damn good gangster already._

Sawada Tsunayoshi stepped into the shop. He was small, not just because he was fifteen and Viviane eighteen, but simply because he was small for his age. He was pretty thin too, with wide brown eyes that belonged on a kicked kitten. His hair was unnaturally fluffy, like some kind of spiky cotton candy. To be brief, all this accumulated to a very threatening appearance.

Viviane paled at the sight of that man.

"Ah, Yamamoto!" The boy lit up as he spotted his friend, he strolled to the table, "Gokudera was looking for you! Apparently the two of you-" The boy jerked backwards as he noticed Viviane for the first time. "HIEEE!"

Reborn kicked him too.

"That is not how a boss greets a fellow mafioso."

"You didn't have to kick me, Reborn…" The boy whined, sitting on the floor and rubbing his back, "Wait? Mafios-"

He looked up at Viviane, gulping. Viviane didn't move.

"S-S-Sorry for being rude!" The boy stuttered, straightening at once and giving her a little bow, "I-I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, nice to meet you! Please don't kill me!"

Reborn kicked him again, negating all of the boy's previous efforts to stand up.

"That was a weak greeting. Do it again."

"Eeeeh?" The boy squeaked. He looked at Viviane again, his eyes locking with hers.

It was them. It was _those_ eyes. Those eyes that knew everything.

" _Peter," Sky man started, "You've worked well tonight. Walk your sister back home once you retrieve her belongings and come back tomorrow after your morning lectures."_

" _Understood." Peter said, bowing deeply to his boss. He motioned to Viviane to follow him and she did, but not before giving Sky man a polite bow of her own. She didn't miss the wink Sky man gave her._

"Please don't blackmail me into joining the mafia!" Viviane heard herself beg before she could think. She tried bowing automatically but had completely forgotten she was sitting, and ended up just smashing her head violently against the table. Good thing the food wasn't there yet. "I'm too young to get screwed over by life like that!"

"Whoa!" Yamamoto exclaimed in surprise.

"Wh-Wha -" The young boss of the Vongola spluttered.

"Tch." Reborn clicked his tongue, "Looks like we have another dame-Tsuna."

"I'm sorry about the butter!" Viviane continued, her forehead still on the table, "Yoshi made me do it!"

"Wha- You're not making any sense. Reborn, she's not making any sense!"

"Are you okay?"

"I-I" Viviane struggled, the pain in her head growing, "We have to go… Run… Stupid… Mafia… Stupid stupid stupid… Stupid…"

"Reborn! I think she's collapsing!"

Something urgent… What was it? Where was he? Yoshi… Lightening… The ring…

Had she sat up already? She couldn't remember. Everything was dark.

"She has a fever!"

"We have a spare room. Let's put her there."

"I-Is that dried blood?"


	2. Sunny with a chance of assholes

**delighted reader: Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for commenting! Reviews motivate authors who are procrastinating their work!**

 **g02sleep: Thank you! Don't worry too much about the romance, this story is going to be mainly about family, friendship and life in general; I'm not a huge fan of romance either. In fact, I doubt Viviane's gonna end up with anyone, especially not Tsuna since** **he's her best friend's dad (ew) and she's absolutely terrified of him. Also, they have better things to do than flirt and fall in love, like saving the world for example. As for being a damsel in distress, well she's not exactly a fighter, but I really wouldn't call her that either. She's more... Well... You'll see ;)**

" _You can't control my life!"_

" _This isn't about control! You're wasting your potential away!"_

 _Ah…_ _Her brother and father were at it again._

" _Potential? Is that what you care about? Not my happiness?"_

 _No…_ _She knew that argument_ _…_ _It wasn't them._

" _Living in the streets won't make you happy!"_

 _That was her mom._

" _Gee, thanks for believing in me!"_

 _And that was her._

 _Why was she dreaming of this again? She had already lived through it once_ _…_

" _I'm being realistic here! Dreams are great but there are times where you have to start thinking about life seriously."_

" _I am thinking about life! I just don't want to live a miserable one, stuck in a lab or something!"_

" _Do you know how many people succeed in the field of music?"_

" _I'd say about the same than the number of people who make great scientific breakthroughs."_

" _But if it's you-"_

" _What if it's me? Just because I'm a little smart I don't get to choose my career? Well screw that!"_

 _Viviane watched herself storm out of the house, slamming the door behind her. Her mother was quick to follow her. Viviane almost wanted to stop her._

" _Viviane! Where are you going? Come back right now!"_

 _The thirteen year old Viviane ignored her mother and ran into the streets, into the massive amount of people coming back from work. Her mother was just as stubborn as her though and even dressed in an apron and slippers she didn't hesitate to run through the crowd calling her daughter's name._

 _"Viviane, come home!"_

" _No!"_

" _Viviane this is an order!"_

" _Oh, orders now? You really are the worst kind of mother there is."_

 _Thirteen year old Viviane noticed a green pedestrian light flickering, soon to turn red. With the distance between her and her mother, she knew that her mother would never make it before it turned red. She picked up her pace and ran across the road just in time._

 _Feeling victory bubbling up in her chest, she turned around to taunt her mother._

 _Just in time to see everything._

 _Her mother was looking straight at her, still shouting her name._

 _Still running._

 _Viviane's eyes widened._

 _Her look of horror was mirrored by confusion on her mother's face._

 _Their eyes were still locked on each other as the truck crashed in her like a football in a net._

 _She hadn't seen the red light. She hadn't paid attention to the road. She had been solely focused on her daughter, scared to lose her._

 _Viviane's eyes were still staring at her mother's limp body, at the blood, at her half opened eyes when the ambulance arrived. She couldn't move from her spot, much less say anything. It had happened so fast._

 _The death had been instantaneous, they had said._

Viviane had gotten used to being woken up by her friends by now. Sometimes it was a kick, sometimes it was a kiss, either way, it was usually quite eventful. Of course, as they all said, it was Viviane's fault that they had to take such drastic measures. She liked sleep, okay? So what if calling her name and rocking her slightly didn't wake her up? What if it only made her shout obscene words at whoever had courageously taken the task? They slept four hours a day when they were lucky!

Viviane wasn't a warrior trained from birth like some of the others. She was a goddamn civilian. She was used to sleeping when she was tired.

Back to the story. When Viviane was woken up by nothing else but her body telling her she had lazed around enough, the girl nearly ran out in the streets to warn people that the apocalypse was coming. The verb 'to laze' and the word 'enough' were ill suited. Lazing enough just wasn't a thing. One could never laze too much.

Unfortunately, Viviane's brain disagreed. She was awake and she didn't even want to go back to sleep. Her eyes were wide open and her legs itching to walk, maybe run a bit.

What. The. Hell.

Even before the whole mafia shit that had never happened to her.

Not knowing what else to do, Viviane stood up. Someone had changed her clothes, she noticed. Instead of her marine stripped shirt and washed out jeans, Viviane was wearing an oversized shirt and pyjama shorts.

She was conflicted.

On one hand she didn't smell as much as before but on the other, someone undressing her in her sleep? Yikes. How was she ever going to get married now that she was soiled?

The room she was standing in was a small, four-tatami room. Other than her futon and her bag, there was nothing. Naturally, Viviane went to her bag next. It was clear someone had gone through it but the search hadn't been thorough. No one had turned her computer on (would they even be able to? The technology was so much different…), the random assortment of objects were still stashed in there, ah! her backup pair of glasses and, most importantly…

Viviane reached for a small box, covered in sealing paper. She tore the paper off, knowing full well it wasn't needed in this time. The box clicked opened.

Viviane sighed in relief as she inspected the content.

The three rings were still there. Two of them, Viviane almost wished they had vanished to be honest. They gave off an ominous feeling that just didn't sit well with Viviane, or with anyone really. The first was a blue stone, inside of which there seemed to be a sea raging. It was surrounded by silver ivy, entrapping the stone. The other, was a round ring with an eye grafted in the middle.

Like, literally.

The eye even followed you around like the Mona Lisa's did.

It was the third ring Viviane was truly happy to see. While it was also the least likely to disappear, as no one could care less for _those_ rings in this crisis, it was without a doubt the most precious one to Viviane.

It was proof that she had once stood up and that she hadn't let go since.

Viviane closed the box again. She knew she had to look for the owner of the third Hell ring of theirs before… The girl shook her head.

Focus on the mission.

The standstill wouldn't last for long.

The problem was, she couldn't find her friend without Yoshi and Yoshi wasn't with her. His gun was though, which was probably not good news. Last time she had seen him, his other gun had been stabbed which made the boy gun-less at the moment. He still had his knife, she argued, but that was more of a last resort type of thing.

So, Yoshi was as good as naked in this time they knew nothing about and considering his temperament… Viviane cringed.

It was useless to overthink the situation. For now, she could do nothing but wait for Yoshi to find her. He was the radar guy after all. In the meantime, she had to protect the Hell rings in her possession.

Someone knocked at the door of the tatami room.

"Come in?" Viviane replied hesitantly. The door slid open.

Two girls wearing their respective school uniforms poked their heads in. One had black hair tied in a ponytail and a very lively face while the other, who was a tad more reserved, had light brown hair, verging on ginger. Sawada Kyoko hadn't aged a day in twenty-five years, Viviane noticed. She had only seen her once before but she just couldn't ignore a face that looked so much like Yoshi's, only without the scowl.

"Sorry if we woke you up." Yoshi's teenage mom apologised, "We wanted to see if you were alright now?"

"Don't worry." Viviane smiled, "You didn't and I'm feeling great. Sorry if I scared your… friends?" The two girls nodded in sync, "Sorry if I scared your friends by collapsing like that… And thank you for taking care me. I don't know how I can pay you back, to be honest."

"It was mostly Yamamoto-kun and Tsuna-kun who took care of you!" The black haired girl corrected with a smile, "They called us to get you clothes and to take care of… uh…" She awkwardly gestured my current attire.

"Oh." Viviane blinked, "I _was_ wondering about that. Thank you!"

"Your clothes are still in the wash," The black haired girl continued, "But we can lend you some in the meantime. You're taller than us but you're not any wider…"

"No, there's no need!" Viviane stopped her, "You've already done so much!"

"Refusal is not an option." Sawada Kyoko smiled, the air in the room dropping a few degrees. Even with three years more than the girl, Viviane knew better than to contradict her. She was the Tenth's wife, after all. Everyone knew she secretly ran half of the family.

"Okay." Viviane squeaked, before regaining her calm, "I'm Viviane, nice to meet you."

"Oh." Haru blinked, "We forgot to introduce ourselves." She energetically shook the eighteen year old's hand, "Miura Haru, pleasure! Just call me Haru!"

Miura… Haru? Viviane vaguely recalled all the Vongola uniforms being designed and made by a Haru but her family name had been different. Not that she could recall the exact name. It made sense that it was her though, considering the fact she seemed to be friend with the Vongola queen.

"Sasagawa Kyoko." The young matriarch said with a grin, shaking Viviane's hand as well, "Call me Kyoko."

A certain sun guardian's face flashed in Viviane's head for a second and the girl was tempted to grimace. Right. These two were _siblings_. How did genetics work again?

The two girls exchanged a conspiratory glance.

"You…" Miura Haru started, whispering, "Are you part of the mafia too?"

Viviane startled.

"Uhm… Not really, but sort of?" She answered.

The girls grinned.

"Could you tell us more about it?" Kyoko - referring to her like that was weird - asked excitedly. She crawled closer to Viviane and Haru did the same.

"Yeah!" Haru agreed, then, pouting, "The boys won't ever tell us anything about it. They want to keep us away from danger and all that."

"I'm stopping you right there." Viviane declared, "I'm not sure what I could tell you but there is one golden rule you should know about this world." The girls were surprised but listened attentively anyways, "Do not _ever_ get involved with the mafia if you can help it."

"But - What about you?" Haru asked, indignant.

"As I said, 'If you can help it'." Viviane repeated, "I was blackmailed into this whole crap. There were sewers, a hot air balloon and a pervert and then one thing led to another and I was looking at a lifetime in prison, a bullet in my head or joining the mafia."

Haru looked horrified. Kyoko was strangely interested in the story. Good lord that girl had problems. Perhaps Viviane was exaggerating things a bit though. The blackmail hadn't even been _that_ bad in retrospective. However, if the Tenth had decided to keep them in the dark well… There was no way in the six Hells that Viviane was going to go against him. No way. Nada. Once was enough.

The two girls looked disappointed but they didn't push it. Viviane felt bad.

"Is she still sleeping?" A voice whispered.

"She's awake!" Haru replied, yelling towards the corridor.

Immediately, three boys in school uniform and one baby barged in. Then one of them 'Eep'ed and turned around, the other had the decency to blush, the third did not and the baby didn't seem to care. What did they think? That Viviane had taken a shower and changed into decent clothes?

Well, the girl in question didn't mind much being exposed. Due to medical emergencies, need of cloth or simply explosives of some kind, Viviane had grown accustomed to being seen wearing little. Plus, she was european. No one cared about being seen in pyjamas there.

"S-S-S-S-Sorry!" Sawada Tsunayoshi cried, not noticing how Viviane stiffened at his presence.

"Haha, we should wait downstairs." Yamamoto suggested.

"Huh?" The third guy, who looked a lot like a certain Gokudera Hayato, protested, "Why can't we just question her here?" Viviane resisted the urge to grin. He hadn't changed at all during all those years. Hopefully she would be able to get embarrassing stuff on him… Uh oh. She was starting to think like mafia.

The baby kicked the Tenth's right hand man. Good God did he hand out kicks like they were free flyers.

 _Growl_.

Viviane blushed.

"Looks like she'll be coming downstairs soon." Kyoko laughed, shooing the boys out, "Give her time to get prepared."

And so, a shower and a new set of clothes afterwards, Viviane found herself in the restaurant's kitchen, along with the three boys and the baby. The two girls had quickly gone home, understanding that their friends were about to talk 'mafia business'.

"Full name. Family. Rank. Purpose." Gokudera listed cooly, taking out paper and pen. Good old Gokudera. Unfortunately, Reborn the truth detecting machine was there.

"Viviane Pillars. Notteconto. Tutor, I guess? Locating a friend." Viviane replied, almost earnestly. Okay, so one of these was a definite lie her friends and her had agreed on before actually putting their mad idea in practice. However, Viviane figured saying 'Vongola' would actually be more suspicious than outright lying.

It wasn't that she didn't trust the Vongola as much as it was that she didn't trust the Vongola. That was something else they had all agreed on. No matter how annoying it was or how much it pained those who had lived their whole life with the Vongola, they didn't have the luxury of trust.

As expected, Reborn's eyes narrowed not by actually narrowing but by allowing the shadow of his fedora to extend ominously. Reborn-speech was a whole language in itself.

"I've never heard of the Notteconto family before." He commented.

Viviane shrugged, "We're a small family and we're relatively new. All of us are eighteen at most except that one guy who's like forty but he's technically not really one of us. Also, he's not there most of the time."

"Your friend, why are you looking for him?" The Tenth asked, looking worried. _Don't buy his kind guy act, Viviane,_ the girl berated herself. _It's a ploy, it has to be!_

Viviane blinked. "He might get lost."

 _The man in front of them was barely recognisable as a man._

 _His skin had become dirty white and brittle, his veins, blue, purple, could be seen across his every limb and his eyes_ _…_ _They were dark, clouded, blind to everything but sight. With every step he took, the world wavered._

 _His head twitched._

 _His arm had gotten ripped off sometime during the battle, but the thing continued walking indifferently. He stepped on someone's head, crushing it completely._

 _He didn't even recognise his own friend._

" _Shit!" A man swore, punching the ground in frustration, "Shit! Shit! SHIT!"_

 _The temporary boss of Giglio Nero was usually a very composed man. He was almost a different man with his blond locks messy and burnt, his suit crumpled, his face covered in mud and blood, his body, kneeling on the ground like a beaten slave. He didn't even hide his tears, like he usually did. They were streaming without restraint, accompanied only by a waterfall of swears._

 _They always did say that people who swore the most were the most honest. At this point, Viviane couldn't agree more._

 _His comrade had been too weak. Both the one crushed and the one doing the crushing._

 _Viviane got up and urged her friends to move. It was too late for the Giglio Nero. They had lost yet another battle, lost yet another ally. It wasn't like they had had much hope in winning that one, considering who that monster was. The Giglio Nero would have found out eventually._

 _They had clung to hope, as hope was all they usually had. It seemed that this time, they hadn't even had that._

"That doesn't make sense, woman." Gokudera growled, "If you're looking for him, then isn't he already lost?"

"There are many ways of getting lost." Viviane smiled, a bit sadly. Once again, she had decided to stick to the truth as much as possible which only left the possibility of being infuriatingly cryptic about everything.

"Maybe we can help you look for him." The Tenth suggested. Reborn smiled.

"What's his name?" Yamamoto asked, eager to help as always, "We might know him!"

"I doubt it," Viviane shook her head, "he must have arrived here around the same time as I did."

"Then how does he look like?" The Tenth insisted.

If by chance the Tenth's family did find Izumi, then it would make things much easier, Viviane reasoned. Yoshi was going to have to find both of them anyway and that would take time. God knew time was not what they had an abundance of.

"He... He's Japanese," Viviane started, "Very tall and fairly muscular. His skin is pretty pale, I guess. His hair black, straight and his haircut doesn't really stand out in any way so I'm not sure how to describe that. His one defining trait would by a small bit of his right ear missing. If I remember correctly, he should be wearing a simple black shirt, black military pants and hiking boots."

"He probably changed clothes since you last saw him." Gokudera pointed out.

"I really, _really_ doubt it." Viviane countered. "Getting a change of clothes wasn't really on our list of priorities when we all split up."

"Wh-What _did_ happen to you?" The Tenth asked. He looked scared of Viviane. Was he? Cause she was pretty sure she was a hell of a lot more terrified of him than he was of her.

"We got in a scuffle with another family." Viviane covered up. It was technically true. Well, that they got in a 'scuffle' with _families_ , plural, was closer to the truth. "But don't worry about that."

"Don't… worry…?" The Tenth sweatdropped.

Yamamoto placed a bowl of rice and mackerel in front of her.

"Oh, thank you!" She smiled, digging in immediately. She _was_ hungry, okay? As the boy had bent to place the bowl on the table, Viviane couldn't help but notice that something had been missing though.

"Your necklace…" She trailed off, frowning.

The Tenth and Gokudera tensed. Reborn lowered his hat.

"It gets caught in the bat when I practice baseball." Yamamoto explained obliviously with a smile, "So I usually leave it at home when I have practice at school."

A gun clicked.

Reborn's gun clicked.

"How do you know about the necklace?" He asked dangerously. "Only a few allies have seen it in action."

Oh, so the versions X of the rings weren't general knowledge in the past? It was good to know. It would have been even better to know _before_ Viviane had a gun aimed at her head though. And the girl knew Reborn hadn't forgotten about the safety. She subdued the small panic that was bubbling from her stomach and breathed.

"I tend to know things." She bullshitted. Way to be inconspicuous! "And I have a piece of very important advice to give you... in exchange for your hospitality."

"Why should we believe you?" Gokudera, ever so trusting right hand man, asked.

Viviane locked eyes with the Tenth, much to her horror. "I-I swear I'm not here to hurt you. In fact, I will stay out of your sight as much as I can, you might not even hear of me ever again after this whole ordeal. But this is advice you need to hear, for the sake of your _family_."

The Tenth stared at her blankly, then, slowly, he nodded.

"I believe you." He said.

"Tenth!" Gokudera exclaimed "You can't-"

"Haha," Yamamoto laughed, "If Tsuna believes in you, then I have no reason to do otherwise."

"Don't encourage him, baseball-freak!" Gokudera snapped.

"Tsuna?" Reborn asked, as if testing his student.

Tsuna swallowed. "I don't know why but I feel we can trust her."

Reborn lowered his gun and Viviane smiled a bit. The Vongola Hyper Intuition was nothing to joke about. She almost felt bad for bringing a bunch of trouble from the future. Risking the past of a parallel timeline to save their own future… It was selfish, but it was necessary if the Vongola - if the mafia - no, if human society as a whole was to survive.

They hadn't realised yet but their whole world had turned into a cage.

"Wear your Vongola rings at all times." Viviane told them, "Nothing bad should happen but if-" _If we were to fail, if something went wrong_ \- Vivian shook her head, "The power of the Vongola rings should protect you."

"Something is going to happen, isn't it?" The Tenth asked.

Viviane waved it off with a little laugh. "Nothing that concerns you."

"You're lying." The Tenth frowned. Even his two guardians were surprised by the severity of his tone. Viviane only avoided his gaze.

…

Dammit.

Viviane bit her lip. She was a terrible actress and she knew it. In the end, she had always dealt with these kind of things the same way.

"Screw this. Yeah, I'm lying." She admitted, "But I can't tell you anything because I promised my boss I wouldn't and because it is a matter of survival that most people stay in the dark."

Blunt. Truth.

Lying was too much trouble anyway. She really didn't know how her friend Ryuu pulled it off all the time.

"But really," She continued, "Wear your Vongola rings even if they're not shaped as rings. And tell the rest of your guardians. You might want to warn the Shimon and the Giglio Nero families to do the same."

"Why would you help us?" Gokudera asked.

"As I said, hospitality." She replied in her usual bored tone, "And because I honestly have nothing against the Vongola family and their allies."

…

"Well," Viviane concluded, placing her chopsticks on the empty bowl, "it looks like I have overstepped my welcome. I'll get out of your hair now."

"Do you even have a place to stay?" Yamamoto asked.

"No, but I'll manage." Viviane shrugged, then she grinned, as if privy to an inside joke none of them knew about, "Apparently, I'm good at making things work out in the end."

It was good Viviane had had the forethought of bringing her bag down with her. She simply picked it up, walked across the shop in a few strides and opened its door.

"Wait!" The Tenth cried as he followed her out.

"You should stay one more day!" Yamamoto agreed, also walking up next to her "What if you collapse again?"

"We didn't say you were free to go." Gokudera growled.

"I also still have questions for you." Reborn said, jumping on Viviane's shoulder.

"The less you ask, the less I lie." She deadpanned. Viviane hoped they wouldn't end up using strength to hold her back because she knew very well she couldn't fight on equal grounds with them. She prayed the Tenth was as innocent as he looked.

She really should have prayed for something entirely different though. Like not get attached in the middle of Namimori towards the end of the afternoon when a lot of people were coming back from school or work or whatever.

But she didn't.

So, naturally, as per Murphy's law, the worst did happen.

The road blew up.

The reaction had been immediate. The second a huge explosion boomed between two rows of buildings, people didn't wait for the cloud of smoke and debris to disperse to scream their lungs out and run. A few of them hadn't been so lucky though and Viviane could see a few civilians injured or unconscious around them.

The option to escape didn't even exist for the Vongola. While Viviane really wanted to say it was in their blood, she knew very well that it didn't apply to her, the Queen of getaways. No, the reason they were trapped was because one, that explosion had been aimed at them, two, it hadn't really been an explosion but a person charging at them with enough strength to level the whole boulevard and three, that person was trying to kill Viviane.

Gokudera had shielded them from the initial hit with his shields but the contraceptions had been sacrificed to it. The pieces cluttered to the ground lamely.

Viviane was impressed to see that the Tenth and his men had snapped into battle mode at the first hint of danger. Reborn had even handed Yamamoto his necklace so he could get into his cambio forma if he wished to.

In the seconds before the explosion, the Tenth had pulled her away and his two guardians, reading their leader's sudden movement, had stepped defensively in front of her.

As the smoke cleared out, a figure could be seen, standing lazily in the middle of the rubble. He was a young adult, twenty year old to be exact. His hair was brown and long, to his chin, and his eyes were of a burning amber. But what shocked the most wasn't his nice expensive suit or his mad grin, what shocked the most were his hands and his forehead.

Gloves and Sky Flames.

His Sky flames were hard and tense, much like those of the Varia's boss, but they were present and it was without doubt that he was in Hyper Dying Will mode.

Looking back on it, Viviane had no idea how she had resisted the urge to kill him there and then. Well, to be honest, she did know. It was because she was _Viviane Pillars_. Not doing things was her speciality. However, just looking at that smug face made her boil. She wasn't one to hold grudges or to hate people. She didn't like when things got complicated so she always avoided strong attachments, especially of the negative kind.

But this one…

 _When Viviane had met Sawada Hidetada, she had doubted everything she knew about genetics. The seventeen year old had been the exact opposite of his brother and the spitting image of his father. He had been soft, much too soft for a future mafia boss. He had joked around with his brother and for all the two hated their father, they got along perfectly well._

 _Viviane understood clearly why Yoshi wanted to leave the Vongola family in Hide's hands. He was friendly but strict when he needed to be. He was rigorous but held a bit of a mischievous side as well. Most of all, he cared about his family. Yoshi wasn't the type of person to respect people who didn't deserve it. He was intuitive like that._

 _But the Tenth had forced his two sons to fight it out and so the tragedy started._

 _Now, three years later, Viviane knew better._

" _They found him." Enma Kozato, the boss of the Shimon family, told them as he walked into the living room they were resting in. Unlike the guests he was currently hiding, he was dressed properly, in suit and tie, but he looked just as tired as them._

 _The man, one of the few allies they had left, collapsed on one couch, next to Yoshi who was still cleaning his guns._

" _Who?" Eric, one of Viviane's friends, asked with fear in his voice. Everyone knew he had the most to fear currently. He had the most to lose. There weren't that many people missing and all of them were_ _…_

" _Fran." The mafia boss replied._

" _And he's-"_

" _Yes."_

 _Eric's shoulders slumped. Everyone could see he was breaking inside. And yet no one reached out to him to grab his shoulder, to ruffle his ginger hair or to tell him everything was okay. They had gone through it once before already. He already knew all of his friends were there for him. They already knew he was strong enough to take it. He didn't cry._

" _How did he-" Eric had no need to finish that sentence, he stopped midway, biting his lips._

 _Kozato seemed hesitant to answer but one look into the eyes of guests told him they were ready for whatever he had in store for them. They had grown a lot in the past three years and if they were still standing today, it was because they weren't the type to grieve for long._

" _Drowned." He answered, "There was also quite a lot of skin and blood under his nails."_

 _He had struggled. He had died feeling helpless. He had died in pain and fear._

" _Then we know who did it." Viviane concluded. She hadn't known Fran that well to be honest. She had only brought him coffee once on a battlefield during their weird internship in the Varia. What she did know though, was that they needed more information._

 _None of her friends were ruffled by her bluntness in face of tragedy. So far, it had saved them more times than they could count._

" _Sawada Hidetada." Kozato breathed out. It seemed to pain him to accuse the son of his best friend in that way but they all knew the circumstances._

 _Yoshi's eyes flashed in anger._

" _Yoshi." Viviane warned. The boy didn't need to be told twice. He knew. They all knew. "Hide is not the greatest evil right now. We need to focus on the big picture. Right now, we cannot blame Hide for what he has done. We cannot get sidetracked."_

 _It was true. They weren't even allowed to point fingers, to be angry at the death of their family because technically, it wasn't Hide's fault. Viviane hated that, but it was the truth. She hated Hide so much, for not allowing her to hate him._

"Who are you?" The Tenth asked, calmly.

The man ignored him and stared straight at Viviane.

"How curious that you would choose to ally yourself to the Vongola," he commented in an off handed way, "after all they put you though…"

The Tenth and his men turned to Viviane, looking a bit fearful. They wanted to know if it was true, if she did hold anything against them. Well, Viviane always did have a strict honesty policy.

"Cut the crap, Hide." Viviane deadpanned, getting up from where the Tenth had thrown her to avoid being hurt, "We both know it's not the Vongola."

Hidetada glanced around. "Is my brother not around?" He asked.

"Did you try calling him?" Viviane snarked, "Oh wait. He doesn't like you."

"You're still as pleasant as always, I see." Hide sighed.

"And you're still as much of an ass as when we first met." Viviane spat, "Only now you're not hiding it anymore."

Hide didn't even twitch in annoyance.

And that must have irritated more than just Viviane because the next second, Hide had jumped in the air, barely dodging a bullet. He turned around elegantly, looking down on his opponents, his graceful smile ever so present.

Reborn clicked his tongue, refusing to relax his gun.

"The Dying Will pills and bullet are a secret closely guarded by the Vongola family." He said humourlessly, "Where did you acquire it?"

Hide snickered in response.

"Really, why did you lure us _here_ , Viviane?" He asked, once again ignoring the past Vongola family, "Everyone is so clueless… So easy to… kill…" His eyes landed on Gokudera.

Instinctively, the Tenth reacted. The input of his flames spiked without warning and he moved to propel himself towards his target so he wouldn't have the opportunity to touch his guardian.

But Hide was smirking and Viviane knew why. Hide had fought against the Tenth boss of the Vongola family before, they had sparred for training twice or thrice and they had gone at it seriously at least once. Hide knew all of the fifteen year old's moves and the Tenth had no idea what his eldest son was capable of. In fact, Hide had probably glanced at the storm guardian on purpose to taunt the Tenth into attacking.

" _Peter," Sky man started, "You've worked well tonight. Walk your sister back home once you retrieve her belongings and come back tomorrow after your morning lectures."_

" _Understood." Peter said, bowing deeply to his boss. He motioned to Viviane to follow him and she did, but not before giving Sky man a polite bow of her own. She didn't miss the wink Sky man gave her._

 _The two siblings walked in silence at first. The night was fresh but a bit cold for May and while other younger sisters might have grabbed their older brother's arm for heat, the Pillars didn't even exchange a word. There was a distance between the two of them, both physical and emotional. They hadn't had a proper conversation in two years and the rare 'Where's dad?' or 'Pass me the salt' hardly counted._

" _So, you can hack now?" Peter broke the silence, much to Viviane's surprise. He had always been the one to avoid her. Yet there he was, still refusing to look at her, but speaking nonetheless._

" _Yeah." Viviane shrugged, unsure how to continue the conversation._

" _And you planned this whole thing?"_

" _Yeah."_

" _That's_ _…_ _" Peter breathed, a small frown on his face, "Very unlike you."_

 _Viviane knew that. She wasn't the kind of person to have projects. Hell, she wasn't the kind of person to do anything really. It had been just this once, for a promise she had made to herself. For the promise of protecting her family._

" _How would you know how I'm like?" Viviane found herself saying with more fire than she had intended._

 _Peter startled a bit at her tone. Just as soon however, his eyes relaxed and looked straight in front once again._

" _I remember a lazy girl with dreams of being a famous singer, a star." He started, "I remember a girl who never studied, who never did her homework, who was allergic to reading, who spent her days hanging out with shallow friends and singing like there wasn't anything more important to do."_

 _His indifferent tone had not wavered once during his speech but Viviane had heard it clearly. He might as well have screamed it out loud._

 _That accusation._

 _It really was unfair. There was nothing Viviane could say in her defence. She had known how close Peter and her mom were. They had always been the responsible ones, the ones who kept the family afloat, who took care of everyone._

" _I don't hate you. I don't want to hate you." Peter continued, "But I can't stop myself from blaming you. I can't look at you without wishing you the worst and I can't live knowing I have those kind of thoughts for my own sister, Viviane. I know you didn't mean it to happen but if you had listened to me, if you hadn't been so selfish_ _…"_

 _Viviane gritted her teeth._

 _She could take the punch. She deserved it._

" _What about dad?" Viviane found the courage to ask, "What about Jamie? Avoid me all you want, it's no excuse for abandoning them."_

" _I know." Peter sighed, "But I can't abandon my famiglia when it needs me."_

" _The mafia." Viviane deadpanned. "You're abandoning your real family for a pretend one?"_

 _Peter suddenly glared at her in a way he never had before. Viviane recoiled._

" _They're not pretend!" He growled, before calming down. "They're - You wouldn't understand. Forget it. Sorry for snapping."_

" _I-It's fine. Come to think of it," Viviane frowned, "Was that orange guy the boss of the Japanese branch of this Vongola family? He didn't look Italian."_

" _That orange guy_ _…_ _?" Peter repeated, slightly irritated, "Show him a bit more respect will you? He's the Tenth boss of the whole Vongola family, Sawada Tsunayoshi. He's a legit descendant of the First."_

 _Viviane grimaced. He really was a powerful man then. But those eyes_ _…_

" _What about you then?"_

" _I'm just a foot soldier for now." He shrugged, "But I'm hoping to join one of the engineering teams in the future. Spanner's would be ideal but I think I'd be happy in any of them."_

" _Spanner…_ _? Nevermind. It's probably too complicated." Viviane sighed._

" _There's the Viviane I remembered." Peter commented offhandedly, before stiffening up once again. All it had taken for that to happen were for their eyes to meet._

 _Viviane ignored it._

" _I still can't believe you're in the mafia." She mused out loud. "Dad was right to be worried about bad influences."_

" _Do you even know how many laws you broke stalking me?" Peter reminded her, shaking his head in disapproval, "I'm the one who can't believe what you're capable of. I knew you were smart but that was something else. When did you even learn all this?"_

" _Well," Viviane confessed with a smile, "I stopped singing so I had to find something else to do."_

" _You stopped-"_

" _I also stopped going out." Viviane continued, ignoring her brother's surprised expression. She picked up her walking pace so she didn't have to see her brother's reaction. She was a bit scared of touching on this topic again after the bashing she had just received. "But you wouldn't know that, would you?"_

" _Viviane…"_

 _Home wasn't that far. She could probably make it in less than five minutes, remove her shoes silently and walk up the staircase only to cuddle her warm bed. Then, sleep would cradle her like a mother, take her in a land of fantasy for a short while, before a brand new day would start. And then life would continue as it always had, smoothly, calmly. Why start a conflict when it could be avoided?_

 _Vivane took a deep breath. She recalled the Sky man's eyes locking with hers. She knew he had given her an opportunity to clear things with her brother. He had given her an opportunity to take her courage in her own hands. There was something about him, something that clashed deeply with Viviane's personality. Something that reminded her of what had prompted her James Bond themed night in the first place. And just this once she wouldn't take the easy way out. Just this once._

 _It was still dark but the sun wasn't going to wait long to rise._

" _I lied when I said I followed you out of curiosity." Viviane admitted. She stopped walking and her brother did the same without realising it. "I followed you because I wanted my older brother back."_

" _Viviane…_ _" Peter warned._

" _I know I killed mom." Viviane cut him off, still looking in front of her, "Believe me, I saw it with my own eyes. I know I can't ask for your forgiveness." Vivane paused, then, she let out a bitter laugh, "It's quite ironic, really. I didn't care much about family before but ever since I've destroyed it with my own two hands, I've learnt from my mistake. It's too late to bring everything back together but I want - I want to salvage what I can. Is that so bad?"_

" _It's a great feeling." Peter agreed with a pained expression, "But I just can't_ _…"_

" _I've suffered enough." Viviane declared, turning around this time. For a person with no motivation, she had a strangely determined gaze. "I refuse to be like those noble characters in mangas and in novels who just keep beating themselves up and drown in self-hatred. I've been stuck for two years, unable to sing, unable to talk with my friends because of the incredible amount of guilt that suffocated me every time I did. Even now I don't know what to do with my life anymore, I'm lost, I'm confused and I'm reminded of my mistake every single second of my day."_

" _I've made the effort of reaching out to you even though your face is the one that hurts me the most to look at. I'm telling you to learn from my mistake. Dad may sound annoying but it just shows how much he cares; don't push him away. Don't push your family away. Don't punish me more than I deserve."_

 _By the end of that speech, Viviane was breathing hard. She hadn't said those words before because she hadn't felt like she had the right to. Now, she knew it had never been a question of rights and all it had taken was just a small push, one look from_ those _eyes._

" _I want my brother back. Our family may be broken but I'll be damned if I give up on it. You may be too busy to be there, dad may be too overprotective to be reasonable, Jamie may be too young to understand our family isn't perfect and I may be too sinful to be forgiven but the guilt will never disappear from me and I refuse to bear more pain that that. Just this once, for family, I refuse to take the easy way out."_

" _Everything's on the table now." Viviane concluded angrily. "Do with it what you will. But know that if I've made the effort to face you, you could do the same. Fight your hatred instead of using it as an excuse."_

 _Paralysed on the spot, Peter could only watch as his sister walked away towards home, the sun rising over her head._

Those kind, warm eyes who knew everything… Dammit! Viviane hated them!

Viviane made her move before the others could react. She managed to grab the Tenth's ankle last minute and she jumped on his back, hindering his movements as much as she could. Seeing as they were in the air and that there was little to no resistance, Viviane managed to turn the Tenth around so she was between Hide and the Tenth.

Hide had already started attacking. She aimed Yoshi's gun at him and from such a close distance, Hide had to redirect his whole body to avoid it. The full, hard flame covered punch ended up being a much weaker chop, with less momentum and with Viviane as a target instead of the Tenth.

Only, Viviane wasn't exactly very resistant so a weak attack from a Sawada was more like a very powerful blow to her.

Screaming in pain, Viviane was sent flying back to the ground but she was caught in time by the Tenth and gently placed back on the ground. Hide had gotten her in the shoulder and Viviane was pretty sure her left arm would be out of commission for the days to come. The yellow shirt Haru had lent her was quickly turning red there.

"I didn't peg you for the hero type, Viviane." Hide pointed out.

"I spent too much time around your brother." Viviane shrugged, immediately regretting her decision as the pain spiked. She grit her teeth. "Shit! This is exactly why I don't usually do heroics, stupid Viviane! Stupid mafia! Stupid everything!"

"Why did you do that?" The Tenth asked her. He was still calm due to his current state but Viviane couldn't help but notice he was confused and worried.

"Because you're no-good Tsuna." Reborn answered for her. "That man was ready to counter your attack. He was going for the kill. Think before you charge, idiot."

"Why don't we just make things easier?" Hide suggested. "You know I can easily kill all of them, Viviane."

Gokudera and Yamamoto didn't appreciate the comment much and drew out their weapons in full cambio forma.

Viviane grit her teeth. She knew he wasn't lying. She needed to do something, to think of something. Viviane looked around, picking up on her surroundings. There were pieces of asphalt everywhere that could potentially be used as projectiles. There were passed out civilians, if they needed camouflage. There were bent trees, window glass shards, smashed bricks, deformed bikes, fallen ice cream…

There was Namimori.

Viviane blinked. She needed to stall for time, then.

"Hah?" Gokudera asked as if he hadn't hear Hide clearly, dynamites between all his fingers "Should we test that?"

"I won't back off if you threaten my friends," Yamamoto warned dangerously, swinging his swords in front of him "I advise you step down."

"He's baiting you." Viviane sighed, "He _can_ take on all of you, especially if you're angry. He knows _everything_ about you and I'm not kidding or exaggerating."

"What did you-" Gokudera growled, snapping at Viviane.

"I said _stand down_!" Viviane barked standing up yet again, "You too, Tenth."

Maybe it was because they didn't have time to think about their positions that they listened to Viviane without protest once she snapped. Or maybe Viviane just had a thing for making people listen to her. Or maybe it was the undertone of urgency that laced her voice… Whatever it was, the three guardians of the tenth generation lowered their weapons without relaxing their stance.

"Ever so the voice of reason, Viviane." Hide smirked, "Is that how you tamed my brother? By yelling at him?"

"Do not talk of Yoshi like that." Viviane seethed, "He hold his own reigns unlike you."

Hide laughed again, this time without restraint. "I thought you'd know better Viviane!" He said, " _I'm_ the one in control of myself. I'm the one free from all those rules, from the law, from ridiculous morals, from anything keeping from acting how I want to! _I_ am not a sheep like you. I make my own rules. I still can't believe my dear brother has fallen so low as to bow his head to someone like you."

 _Home sounded really sweet at the moment. Viviane had nothing against school but_ _…_ _Oh wait, she did. Not only did the girl have a particularly strong repulsion for studying, she was also being blackmailed into attending this particular school. Home was her save heaven. Home was where she could forget about the stupid, stupid mafia. It went without saying that the second class was over, Viviane had rushed to reclaim her outdoor shoes._

 _But fate was never too kind with the blond._

 _So fate decided to violently slam her into the shoe lockers._

 _Well, technically it was Sawada Yoshimune but whatever._

 _The young mafioso held her by the collar of her shirt, his eyes burning into hers. Viviane could feel the shelves of the shoe lockers pushing painfully against her back. There would be a few bruises._

 _A student gasped._

" _What the fuck is wrong with you?" Viviane gasped, trying to pry his hand off. His grip was too strong though and the girl knew to be glad it wasn't gripping her neck instead._

 _Sawada Yoshimune took out a small card on which were scribbled a few words and Viviane immediately recognised it. She had found it on the floor one day. It was a message addressed to the young mafioso, in Italian. Viviane hadn't even tried google translating it; whatever happened in Sawada's life was none of her business she figured._

 _She didn't really like the boy. He was arrogant and he was violent, like a child who had never learnt to live with others. He treated others like horse shit, playing on his family's status and on his minions. He was so ignorant, so narrow-minded Viviane couldn't quite be bothered with him. However, out of rare generosity, she had decided to place the note in his desk._

" _I was told you placed it in my desk." Sawada growled, tightening his grip. "Is my_ father _responsible for this?"_

 _He said the word 'father' like one would say homework. Well, like Viviane would say homework. With a little disgust and a lot of loathing. Him and his dad problems, Viviane internally sighed! She could just smell the sad backstory from her where she stood._

 _Family drama. Just the complication she needed._

 _Viviane was already regretting accepting (not that she was given much of a choice) the job. Taking care of troubled teenagers was just too time and energy consuming. There would be angst, yelling, tears, you-don't-understand-me-no-one-does speeches_ _…_ _Had she wished for such mess, Viviane would have bought Twilight instead._

" _I found it on the floor, you ass." Viviane deadpanned, "Maybe if you thought for a change you'd realise I don't know Italian."_

" _Tch." Sawada clicked his tongue, "Useless. Where's Izumi?"_

" _Oh, he's not attached to a collar and a leash yet?" Viviane snarked. Akari Izumi was more or less Sawada's best friend. Or at least, he was someone whose presence Sawada could tolerate. How he could stand the mafioso, Viviane had no idea. Nonetheless, the boy was always walking at Sawada's side, snickering with him and helping him ditch Eric, Sawada's butler - ahem, personal attendant._

 _Sawada's eyes flashed angrily, as if Viviane had just stepped on a land mine._

" _If I find that you did this_ _…"_

" _Did what?" Viviane asked exasperatedly._

" _Kidnapped Izumi."_

 _Viviane blinked. Was Sawada…_ _Angry at someone for kidnapping a_ civilian _? The boy was always going on about how the weak deserved the lowest kinds of fate and he never treated anyone as worth his time but_ _…_ _A civilian, really? What a hypocrite._

… _Wait a minute._

" _Akari-san was kidnapped?" Viviane repeated, shocked. Sawada must have seen her reaction was honest because he let her go, though not before shoving her against the lockers once more._

" _Fuck, you really are useless trash." Sawada growled, "Then again, you are_ his _subordinate."_

" _I'm not-" Viviane sighed, "Nevermind. Should we, I don't know, call the police?"_

" _Are you stupid?" Sawada asked with a scowl, "There's an address on the note. We're going there."_

" _We?"_

" _You might as well make yourself useful for once instead of just spying for that piece of scum."_

" _I'm not part of the mafia. And this whole thing sounds an awful lot like a trap."_

" _Someone needs to be canon fodder."_

" _What about Eric?" Viviane suggested, "He's usually the one being kicked around by you."_

" _Eric's branch of the family is a bit preoccupied with all the disappearances going around." Sawada told her as if it was obvious, "What kind of Vongola doesn't fucking know that?"_

" _I am_ not _part of the mafia!"_

 _Well, Viviane could have argued all she wanted. In the end, she was still forcefully dragged to an abandoned factory an hour away from Namimori. Someone was going to have to tell Sawada people weren't bloody sandbags!_

 _Sawada forced her to crouch behind a half-collapsed wall. There were quite a few men guarding the factory, all with guns. The wall they were leaning against was not actually part of the factory but more of a perimeter, a fence made out of concrete. The factory itself was pretty small, partially in ruins and drowning in vegetation._

" _Distract them. I'm going in." Sawada ordered._

" _Distract them with what?" Viviane asked, "I'm not going out there. I like not having holes in my body. I'll watch from behind this wall, thank you very much."_

" _Don't you at least have a box weapon?"_

" _A what?"_

" _Fucking useless."_

 _Sawada pulled out two handguns out of nowhere. Viviane had seen one of them before, for a split second when Sawada was digging through his school bag once, but she had never thought he'd actually use them. Sure he was a mafioso but he was also fucking fifteen._

 _The boy positioned himself so he was facing the wall. He stood up just enough for his eye and his guns to pop over the wall._

" _Wait." Viviane whispered, "If you shoot they'll know where we are!"_

" _No shit."_

 _And then he shot. Viviane cringed, covering her ears and forced her eyes shut. She wasn't sure how many bullets Sawada had shot by the time she blinked one eye open, nor what the situation was behind the wall._

 _However, she did notice Sawada suddenly jumping away from the wall. Luckily, Viviane had kept enough awareness to connect the dots. She hastily ducked, throwing herself sideways and clumsily regaining her footing enough to run away from the wall, which exploded seconds after. As the shockwave, blew her hair in her face, Viviane continued running._

 _That ass was going to let her blow up!_

 _Viviane tried not to waste her breath as the smoke was getting into her eyes and lungs. Ignoring the sound of gunshots and cries, she aimed for another wall behind which she could take refuge. Unfortunately, she had not been paying enough attention to her footing. Her left foot landed on a squishy surface and bent itself, making her trip._

 _A shot of pain thundered through her ankle._

" _Shit!" She swore. She tried getting up, only to see what had tripped her._

 _An arm. Attached to a body. With a hole between his eyes._

" _Fuck Sawada!" Viviane cursed, "You_ killed _a man!"_

 _And then she dared to look up to the chaos. Sawada was facing a dozen of men alone, moving around the battlefield like a monkey on a tree. He used the walls and the bodies of his enemies, both dead and alive, to shield himself from bullets. Most of the time however, he simply dodged them, closing in the distance between him and some enemies, expertly defeating them in close combat while he shot the others who were further away._

 _The funny thing was, while the enemies frantically shot at Sawada, Sawada rarely actually pulled the trigger. But when he did, enemies fell like flies, a hole right between their eyes. Not a single bullet was wasted._

 _Viviane swore weird flames were also going around the battlefield. It looked like a magic trick but Sawada was actually focusing more on those than on the actual men attacking him._

 _Had she accidentally stepped on the set of a movie? Because she was pretty sure no one could actually fight that well in real life._

 _The battle came to an end when only a single enemy was left standing. Well, standing. In a manner of speaking. The poor man was actually lying on the ground, crushed under Sawada's foot._

" _Trash, where's Izumi?" The boy growled, one of his guns jabbing at the man's head._

 _The man spat._

 _Sawada screwed his foot further in the man's bullet wound, in his back, and the man cried out in pain._

" _Shit!" Viviane swore again from where she sat, "You're hurting him!"_

 _Sawada looked up to her like she was retarded. He then dismissed her words and went back to torturing his opponent._

" _Where. Is. Izumi?"_

" _In the factory! In the factory!" The man confessed, sobbing, "He's on the second the level."_

 _Sawada shot him dead._

" _Their back up will come soon." Sawada told Viviane, "Let's go."_

" _W-Wait, we can't just go in there!" Viviane protested. "This might be abandoned but it's still private property! We can't just waltz in there! That would be trespassing! It's illegal!"_

 _Once more, Sawada doubted her IQ surpassed the bar of forty._

" _Stay here if you want, trash." He spat._

 _Viviane tried getting up. She knew very well she had no chance of survival if she didn't stick to the mafioso. There was no way in hell she was just sitting there waiting for the backup to find her and shoot her dead._

" _Wait! Dammit! My ankle's twisted!"_

 _Sawada didn't seem to care. He continued walking to the factory at a quick pace, recharging his guns as he did so. Viviane hoped after him._

" _Can't you walk a bit slower?"_

" _Shut up, useless trash."_

" _Dude, I can't walk. My foot hurts."_

…

" _We should go back." Viviane tried to reason with him, "Leave this to the police. More men are probably going to come. There's still time to escape-"_

" _And leave Izumi more time to die?"_

" _One corpse is better than three." Viviane deadpanned._

 _Viviane didn't have to take a step further from there, mostly because Sawada did stop. Also because there was a gun pointed at her head. Sawada looked downright murderous as he glared at her._

" _Listen up you fucking trash." He spat, "I brought you here because I thought my father at least had the decency to send me someone halfway competent. As it turns out, I have overestimated him. You really are as fucking useless as they come. Run away if you fucking want to, you fucking coward but I won't forgive people who dare go against me like that. I refuse to be looked down upon by low pieces of shit. But if you insist on whining and being a deadweight, I won't hesitate to shoot you down."_

 _For once, Viviane didn't reply. Part of her thought it was because she could see Sawada was serious and that he could very well shoot her at the first squeak she let out. However, another part of her knew it was because she could see the massive bruise on his temple, his broken finger, the string of blood dripping from his nose, the huge gash on his leg, the way he limped, the burn mark on his back_ _…_

 _She could see that breathing was agony for him._

 _Her ankle hurt._

 _But he was ploughing through the pain._

 _Why was he going so far for a simple classmate? Why were his eyes burning with life when he was completely beaten up? What drove him so far? Why didn't he realise his life was in danger?_

 _He was being stupid. Two fifteen year old kids had no chance against a whole syndicate of criminals. This was a suicide mission all for a hostage who probably wasn't even going to get killed. Plus, it was so obviously a trap to bait the young mafioso and yet the boy insisted on willingly walking in it. This plan was bound to end in tragedy. It was arrogant to think otherwise, delusional._

 _But for some reason, when Sawada took his next step, Viviane followed him in silence._

"Yoshi bows his head to no one." Viviane defended her boss, glaring at his brother in the sky. If anything, _she_ was the one constantly pursuing his back. "He's worth a hundred of you because at least he hasn't given in to his weakness, coward!"

Hide's eyes flashed dangerously in a way where he actually looked like his brother for once.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Hide dismissed. Selective hearing much? "Now back to the matter at hand. As I said before, I can easily take out your little friends," Gokudera and Yamamoto bristled but the Tenth and Reborn did not give in to the taunt, "but I am willing to let them go if you come with me."

"I really don't know what kind of idiot you take me for." Viviane deadpanned, picking up the bag she had dropped sometime earlier and hugging it closer to her chest. "I know what you're after and I know why you came to me first even though I was surrounded by the Tenth's guardians. I'm not suicidal enough to make that deal."

Hide chuckled, "I expected nothing less from you, miss _Miracle_."

"Don't call me that." Viviane snapped, stepping forward, gripping the gun in her hand more steadily. Her eyes had found Hide's finger, or rather, the ring that was mocking her from there. It was made of metallic worms that sometimes seemed to come to life. Most would pass it as a trick of the light but Viviane knew better coming from one of the Hell rings.

Two people had died protecting that ring. One of them, Viviane had never met. The other, Viviane had met in a morgue. Needless to say, the latter hadn't been very talkative either.

However, Viviane still regarded these two as allies. Their deaths hadn't made them martyrs but fellow fighters in the strife against madness. To think Hide was displaying that ring so vulgarly, without a thought to its previous owners, made Viviane angry.

Hide noticed what Viviane was looking at. "Oh?" He said with genuine interest, "Is miss Miracle going to fight me?" The man backed away a bit, flying slightly higher as to be even more out of reach.

"What's that?" Viviane taunted, "Could it be you're afraid of a civilian who can't fight for shit?"

"You could have both legs amputated and both arms paralysed and I'd still be wary of you." Hide admitted calmly, "Underestimating you has cost us too much, too many times. You won't catch me off guard, I'm afraid."

The fifteen year olds behind Viviane were starting to grow restless and she could feel it. The smallest threat would have them jumping and attacking Hide. The only thing keeping them at bay at the moment was how confused they were by the situation. They didn't know who was Hide. They didn't know what he wanted with Viviane. They didn't know if they were allowed to interrupt.

She needed more time.

At this rate, stalling would become too difficult. The Tenth and his guardians would charge. Hide would try kill them. She had to make sure the pervert could arrive before the battle was over. Sure, he was twenty five years younger, but he'd have to do. How long until he arrived?

A song caught her attention.

Viviane grinned. Speaking of the Devil…

"And yet you fell right into it once more." She revealed, aiming her gun at Hide.

Hide's eyes widened at the sight of the gun, his every muscles tensing and preparing for the worst.

Unfortunately for him, the pervert was quicker. And _behind_ Hide.

Imitating Viviane a few minutes before, Hide violently crashed into the building behind Viviane and the Tenth's family, who all braced themselves and avoided the debris. They ran to the other side of the street.

A figure landed smoothly in front of them, black vest brazenly floating in the air behind him and weapons set in an offensive stance. On top of his head was a small yellow bird singing the anthem of Namimori.

"Hi-Hibari!" The Tenth realised.

"Tch." Gokudera clicked his tongue, "Don't think we needed your help to defeat that bastard."

"For allowing Namimori to be destroyed to this extent," The pervert said, turning around and walking towards the Tenth, "I will bite you to death, herbivore."

"HIEEEEE!?" The Tenth screamed through his Hyper Dying Will mode.

"What did you say to the Tenth you bastard?" Gokudera asked angrily, stepping between his boss and the pervert defensively.

"Hey, hate to break your comedy routine," Viviane urged, "But Hide's not going to fossilise in that building. If he was so easy to kill he'd already be six feet under, believe me."

True to her words, Hide emerged from the rubble, wiping blood from his mouth. He looked a lot more crazed with his hair messy and his suit crumpled. His eyes were still burning and his grin was still beaming and considering his state, he looked like a mad zombie of some kind.

But Hide stopped walking towards them halfway through the smashed streets.

He wasn't himself, that was for sure, but he had retained all his intelligence, unfortunately.

The tension in the air was suffocating.

"Destroying public property is against school rules." The pervert smirked, crouching in a fighting stance once again "I'll bite you to death."

"I'm afraid it will have to wait." Hide apologised, not so sincerely, "I'd be a fool to fight against Viviane with so many potential puppets around."

Cloud flames erupted from the pervert's tonfas, a clear admission of anger. At least some things never changed; the Tenth's cloud guardian would be proud and stubborn no matter how old he was. The pervert charged towards Hide but the latter simply flew away, straight for the sky. The pervert thus followed him, jumping on the nearby building's facades with the ease of a cat.

He managed to clash with Hide two, three times before the man was completely out of reach.

Strongest guardian indeed. Even with a twenty five year gap and the handicap of an unknown enemy, the pervert had still managed to put Hide on the defensive.

Forced to give up, the pervert landed back in front of his fellow guardians with a sour expression.

"Crisis averted." Viviane declared smugly, allowing herself to sit down on a piece of overturned asphalt. The others seemed to relax as well, with the Tenth's flame extinguishing. She was suddenly very conscious of her heart beating faster than normal. No matter what she went through, the girl would never get used to the adrenaline rushes and the fear, the awareness that came in pair with danger.

And then she had a tonfa aimed at her face. And four guardians and a baby towering over her.

"You knew each other." The pervert said. It wasn't a question. "Tell me where he went or I'll bite you to death."

"I honestly have no clue." Viviane earnestly squeaked, withou looking at him in the eye. The tinfa was a bit distracting. "He kind of moves around all the time."

"Who was he?" Reborn asked her. "How did he get those flames?"

"Why was he after you?" The Tenth asked, always worrying about other's lives first.

"I can't tell you." Viviane bluntly answered.

The pervert's eyes narrowed.

"Helping a delinquent is against school regulations." He said. Viviane nearly snorted when he called Hide a delinquent. And then she realised how that conversation was going to end.

"W-WAIT HIBARI!" The Tenth tried to stop his guardian but the latter already had his tonfa swinging towards Viviane.

"Eep!" Viviane cringed, shutting her eyes close, waiting for the impending explosion of pain.

 **Clang!**

But it never came.

Viviane slowly dared to open one eye. She couldn't help but notice she wasn't in the afternoon sun light anymore but rather that she was covered by someone's shadow, someone who had his back turned towards her. The next thing she noticed was that the gun in her hand was missing. The last thing she noticed was that the figure in front of her was wearing a clean dress shirt and brand new black pants. Figures the ass would take the time to get all pretty while she was facing dangerous psychopaths.

Two guns holding back a tonfa, the figure skilfully ducked and landed a kick in the gut of the Tenth's cloud guardian, sending him stumbling a few metres away. The figure pointed his functioning gun at the pervert, clearly immobilising him.

Anyone with basic fighting instinct could see in his piercing eyes that he wouldn't miss.

"Decorating the battlefield again, you useless piece of trash?" The figure smirked, stashing his broken gun in the belt of his pants.

"Eh." Viviane shrugged, wincing as her shoulder cried in pain, "Someone has to play the damsel in distress to get you mafiosi to move your asses."

"Damsel in distress." The figure repeated, snorting, "Take the role of the pot flower next time, woman. My girlfriend will kill me if you die."

"Boo." Viviane fake-pouted, "And here I thought you actually cared."

Yoshi turned around, a sincere grin on his face. He stretched his hand towards her and Viviane grabbed it without missing a beat, as if she had already known he would do so.


	3. Street littering is a crime, dicks

Viviane was fucking useless, Yoshi decided, angrily stepping out of a pond. He was drenched from head to toes, his hair flattened in front of his eyes and his bloody shirt clinging on to him like an obsessive fangirl. If his gun hadn't been done in by a knife minutes before, it certainly was out of service now with algae infiltrating its insides. Good thing his other gun wasn't with him.

Yoshi removed a ridiculously big lily pad from the top of his head before throwing it violently back in the water. A duck looked up at him curiously. He glared at it as he rung the water from his shirt. The duck hastily swam away.

 _Weak_.

The mafioso trudged away from the grass surrounding the pond and onto the path tangent to it. He might have stepped on a small dog on his way but frankly, he couldn't have cared less.

A family having a picnic gawked at his haggard appearance as he walked past them.

"What are you looking at?" He growled at them. The family flinched and moved to a spot far away.

Part of his mind registered that he was in some sort of park and that people were sending him odd glances. What? Had they never seen a wet, eighteen year old boy with a bloodstained shirt and a toad on his shoulder?

Yoshi paused.

He flicked the toad of his shoulder, ignoring the sound of it gorily bursting against a tree like a tomato against a shitty performer.

Seriously, this was all Viviane's fault. She had had _one_ job: sending them to the past together so they could lure the weak ass trio away from their time. Granted, they had unexpectedly been under attack from their own fucking family. Also, Viviane had fallen sick. And she had been forced to send them to the past prematurely to save their lives. Mostly because Yoshi had held her at gunpoint telling her to _press the fucking button before they all fucking blew up_.

Okay, so maybe it hadn't been entirely Viviane's fault. Though he wondered if the girl had even realised he was threatening her with a busted gun. For all he respected her intelligence, Viviane really did think like a useless civilian half of the time.

Yoshi breathed out.

At least the air was clean.

* * *

 _The bell rung, freeing the class for a few minutes. Most students were happy for that, of course, but no one could quite compete with the long sigh of relief that erupted behind Yoshi._

 _Yoshi and Eric turned around to see the student who had just transferred in. She was a tall girl with waterfall straight blond hair and grey blue eyes. Her hair was sloppily tied in a thick side braid, strands escaping from everywhere as if she couldn't quite be bothered to care. Likewise, her rectangular glasses were obviously dirty and yet the girl did nothing to remedy to that situation. On her desk was only a small pad of yellow sticky notes and a blunt pencil that looked like it hadn't been sharpened in months. She had taken absolutely no notes during the lesson._

" _Hi… again?" The girl smiled tentatively. It wasn't a very friendly smile though, just the kind of smile that showed she didn't want to be rude._

" _You must be Viviane Pillars." Eric said diplomatically, holding out his hand. His voice told Yoshi that he had been expecting the girl and Yoshi felt his irritation slowly rising. Of course the transfer student couldn't just be a transfer student. He hated when things were happening behind his back._

 _The girl - Viviane - shook the ginger's hand, raising her eyebrow, "Well that is what I said earlier." Her voice was slightly amused._

" _Ah." Eric realised (what an idiot), "Apologies. I had been told of your arrival yesterday. My name is Eric Nevel."_

" _Wait - You've been told about her arrival?" Yoshi finally asked, slightly miffed, "Who is she? Tell me she's not another minion of the whatever family hoping to make connections."_

 _Eric looked a bit guilty and fearful at Yoshi's angry tone. The boy really had no backbone. It wasn't so surprising though, since he didn't have a will of his own either. After all, Eric was just another one of his father's puppets; all he was good for was apologising and following orders. "Apologies." Eric in all his Eric-ness said, "I'm afraid I wasn't told much, sir."_

" _Tch." Yoshi clicked his tongue, "Useless."_

" _Apologies."_

 _There was being polite and then there was being a record on automatic replay. Eric was the latter._

" _If it makes you feel better," The Viviane girl started, speaking in a bored tone, "I've only been told on Friday night that I was coming here. And no, I'm not from a weird mafia family. Thinking about it now, I'm not even from the mafia."_

" _So you're basically nobody." Yoshi concluded._

" _No, I'm -" The girl was about to say but she caught herself. The look in her eyes simply shifted into a disinterested one. It was as if she had the switched to auto-pilot, as if Yoshi and Eric weren't important enough to deserve her full attention. "Yeah, let's just say that."_

" _Apologies, but I've been told you had an important role."_

 _Yoshi looked at the girl who just grimaced in response. She reminded him of a child who had just been told to wash the dishes and clean her room._

" _Er…" She admitted, "The boss of the Vongola family sent me here?" There was a hint of hope in her tone as if she expected those words to clear any misunderstanding._

 _The boss of the Vongola family. His father. That pathetic excuse of a man. Yoshi gritted his teeth. So his old man had sent him another dog for surveillance? Or was it a weak attempt at trying to morally educate his son? Yoshi knew very well his father disapproved of his attitude._

" _What does he want?" The boy all but spat out. His eyes were glaring at her, as if finally noticing her for the first time, but not in the romantic subtext that sentence usually implied. No, those eyes were the eyes of a lion seeing another one in his territory._

 _Yoshi's sudden aggression didn't make her flinch like he thought it would. Instead, the girl just sighed tiredly._

" _I'm supposed to tell you to be a great man, I think." Viviane told them, unfazed. There was blatant disrespect in her bored tone._

" _And?" The boy insisted._

" _Be a great man." Viviane advised him mock-wisely, gently placing a hand on his shoulder, gazing sincerely in his eyes, and nodding slightly. Yoshi's eyebrow twitched._

 _She wasn't taking him seriously at all that bitch._

" _That's it?"_

"…" _Viviane looked away for a second, "Yeah."_

 _Eric didn't look convinced. Yoshi wasn't either._

" _You transferred to another school for four words?" The latter frowned, his anger and his suspicion soaring to a new sky._

" _Something like that." Viviane nodded. "It's complicated. It's a long story. Not worth knowing about, really." she shrugged._

 _In the end, neither Yoshi or Eric had managed to pry more information from her. Eric, because he was too much of a wuss to insist and Yoshi because there was something about the girl that he just couldn't stand. It was only later in the week that Yoshi realised what it was._

 _Two or three days after their initial conversation, Yoshi had seen her in gym class. They were playing basketball but the gym wasn't big enough to hold multiple real-sized games. Hence why the girls and the boys had been separated and asked to play alternatively. When it was the girl's turn to play, Yoshi had sat with the other boys at the edge of the court to watch._

 _The game wasn't very impressive to be honest. Not only was it not at the level of their own match, but Yoshi was used to seeing mafiosi trying to rip each other's throat out and needless to say, a basketball match just didn't have the same amount of excitement._

 _Out of curiosity, Yoshi's eyes fell on Viviane. The girl had been sent by his poor excuse of a father and Yoshi didn't trust her one bit. However, she was affiliated to the mafia which meant she had to be quite a skilled person. Perhaps she would slip and show just how strong she truly was. Knowing your opponent was the first lesson in being a decent fighter._

 _Only, Viviane wasn't showing much promise. In fact, she was just walking back and forth from one end to the court to the other, following the ball lazily from a distance._

 _Somewhere during the game, Viviane had been passed the ball, much to her surprise. She had been in the perfect spot to score a point though, and none of her opponents were in the vicinity._

 _However, Viviane just passed the ball to someone else. And the match continued without her further contributing._

 _When the game came to an end, the sports teacher pointed out all the wrongs and rights of the match as usual. There were the usual 'spread out on the field', 'communicate' and 'look before throwing the ball' but the teacher did make a special point out of Viviane's behaviour._

" _Why didn't you try scoring back then?" He asked the girl._

 _Viviane shrugged it off, "My aim is bad and my team would have lost the ball."_

" _You won't get better if you don't try." The man sighed, "Besides, you were always in the best spots, why didn't you try to participate more? Ask for the ball, run to catch it, mark your opponent?"_

" _I suck in sports." Viviane replied dismissively, "Why would I do any of these things when my teammates can do them and guarantee better results? I don't want to be responsible of making my team lose. Any intervention of mine would only make things worse."_

 _The teacher sighed disappointedly and Yoshi agreed with him. Disappointed was exactly the word he would use to explain his feelings towards Viviane Pillars._

 _There was a form of blunt honesty in her words and even the teacher couldn't argue that last point. What she was saying was technically true but… But it was irritating as Hell. There was nothing Yoshi wanted to do more than walk up to her, punch her, and make her run twenty laps. Viviane was lazy, unmotivated and straight up useless._

 _Yoshi glanced at his own hands, scratched, callused and bruised from training every night for years._

 _People like Viviane who never worked were the lowest kind of scum in the world, he decided. With no drive, no strength and a rotten personality like this one, the girl was nothing more than a waste of space and oxygen. She could disappear and no one would notice, he was sure._

 _Along the lines of his own thoughts, Yoshi realised he didn't actually hate her. It was more that he couldn't regard her as a fellow person but as a nuisance, a disgusting piece of useless trash. The girl was a joke, not even worth his anger. He was disappointed not because he had expected more from her, but because he had expected more form any human who respected themselves._

* * *

Yoshi made it out to the streets, ignoring the looks of people around them. It was early afternoon he guessed and judging by the roadsigns, he was about three hours away from Namimori. He closed his eyes.

Viviane was already in the past, he noticed. She was in Namimori, at Yamamoto's sushi place to be exact. Her inner flame was peaceful though, and he guessed she wasn't in any danger yet. 'Yet' because he knew it was only a matter of time. Out of the three weak ass jerks that were supposed to follow them, two of them were likely to go straight for her. Hide because he was smart and he knew Viviane was their trump card and Peter because he simply wanted his sister dead for killing their mother.

Some of the others were also there already. Ryuu, Eric and Izumi, namely. Ryuu was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, even is she was in Italy for some reason, and Eric was in no immediate danger since Viviane had his Hell ring. Izumi on the other hand…

Joining with Izumi was the most urgent but it would be pointless to do so without Viviane around.

Retrieving Viviane first it was. Hopefully the other idiots remembered their priorities. Yoshi smirked, judging by the direction they were moving in, they did. (Not that he had ever doubted them but he wasn't going to admit that.)

Opening his eyes, Yoshi resumed walking, startling someone who was wondering about why the hell he was standing drenched in the middle of a sidewalk with his eyes closed. His clothes were heavy and annoying; he had to change them.

Spotting a clothing store, Yoshi made a beeline for it.

A few minutes and a traumatised cashier later, Yoshi emerged dry and well dressed from the shop. While it was true he didn't give a shit about what others thought of him, Yoshi liked to think that he had some human dignity in him. He dressed well because that was how much he was worth.

Without doing anything else, Yoshi found the train station and hopped - ahem, _got on_ (powerful mafiosi didn't _hop_ ) - on a train towards Namimori. Yes, a train. Sawada Yoshimune, son of the world's most powerful man, couldn't find anything faster than a train and a series of buses to get to Namimori. It wasn't like he could fly around like his brother.

Besides, while the faster the better, there was no cause for rushing things. Yoshi trusted his friends enough to hold their own respective forts on their own. Sure, Izumi risked going crazy, but it wouldn't even be the case if the boy hadn't already been so strong mentally. As for Viviane, who was he kidding? That girl was like a cockroach. Anyone who could kill her deserved to.

And so Yoshi sat for three hours in a train, as if the world wasn't in danger to end. Where he got the money for the train, you ask? He was a mafioso, figure it out yourself.

The feeling of not having someone after your life constantly sure was refreshing. Yoshi hadn't had the opportunity of being alone with his thoughts in a long while. At least, not since his father and his guardians had lost themselves as well.

Yoshi scowled. What were they in? A fucking zombie apocalypse video game? It definitely felt like one, only it wasn't nearly as much fun to play.

There was no point in getting angry over it anymore, the boy reasoned. In this time, the Hell rings's power was diluted to a point where there shouldn't be any danger of… Of whatever madness had erupted in their time. This time it was their turn to go on the offensive. Once they had secured their three Hell rings, their past doubles and the pacifier jar, Yoshi and his team would bring down the weak ass trio for good.

They would save the Vongola family. _Their_ Vongola family.

Yoshi's eyes softened. In theory, they had _already_ saved the Vongola family as well as the others. They had sucked the problem in an impenetrable time jail and locked it up with themselves still inside. The people left behind in their time should have snapped out from the rings' influence. The world should have returned to normal.

It wasn't sacrifice, he had to tell himself. Sacrifice was when one had no chance of surviving. Yoshi and his team weren't martyrs or heroes, it just wasn't in their blood. They - They could do this. They wouldn't have tried if it was a sure death. They could bring down a world's worth of evil with just the seven - the eight - of them, and Yoshi honestly believed that.

There wasn't a second where he doubted they could achieve the impossible.

* * *

 _It really had been a trap in the end. The enemy probably wanted Yoshi dead. They wouldn't be the only ones. They had gotten attacked from everywhere, without the chance to retaliate. Dodging and running had been their only chance of survival but little had they known, it had also been their opponent's plan. Yoshi and Viviane were driven to a dead end, a small room with no window, with no opening save for the big metallic door._

 _Even if it hadn't been to avoid bullets, they would have ended up trapped there. Yoshi only realised this after Viviane had told him a few days after of course._

 _The bastards who lured them their had left Izumi in this very room, knowing that Yoshi would have to get him eventually. The civilian was passed out, his right leg completely mangled and bleeding from everywhere. His chest rose weakly, but Yoshi knew it wouldn't be long before it stopped._

 _Unfortunately, the metallic door shut close the second Yoshi and Viviane had stepped in. The enemies did have enough time to sneak in some kind of smoke bomb though, and it really didn't help the three teenagers' situation._

 _It was the perfect plan. The room was so small they'd run out of oxygen within the hour. Not only that but the walls were too hard to break through and the door was obviously built for containment: It was commanded at distance and as thick as a bank safe. With Izumi in his state, their mobility was greatly diminished as well and the smoke they had released was no ordinary smoke._

" _You cowardly bastards!" Yoshi yelled to the door, "You fuckers!"_

 _He glanced at Izumi, sitting against the wall, legs spread, who still hadn't moved. He could barely see his silhouette with all the smoke around him. It wasn't fair of them to bring a civilian into this. Mafia pride did not usually allow for such a thing. These men were truly lower than the dirt behind a toilet._

 _Yoshi felt a rare spike of guilt. Izumi didn't deserve to die because of him. Izumi didn't deserve to be dragged out into the world of mafia. There weren't many people that Yoshi regarded as equal or superior to him. In fact, there were only three, really. And Izumi was one of them. For one, he had made it on that list despite being a lowly civilian. But mostly because Izumi was someone who wasn't afraid to stand by him._

 _Izumi was different from Eric who only walked in Yoshi's wake as per his father's orders. Izumi was different from all the sheep at school who followed Yoshi because they saw him as the alpha male. Izumi stood_ next _to him._

 _The civilian teen just had something no one else did. He listened to Yoshi like no one else did. When Izumi looked at Yoshi, the mafioso just knew Izumi wasn't looking at a popular kid, at a rebellious kid, at an arrogant kid or at an ignorant kid like people like his father of Viviane did. No, the boy looked at Yoshi without judgement, fully aware that Yoshi wasn't just a stereotype, a facade, that he was a teenager with problems like so many others. Izumi respected Yoshi and Yoshi returned the favour._

 _Now Yoshi wasn't the type to open up often. Emotions were stupid and useless in his opinion. Apart from anger, which was a good motor for motivation, the others were just proof of weakness. But when he was younger, there were times where he just couldn't help it and back then, the one to listen hadn't been his family or his other friends. They had all thought he wanted attention, that his problems were not that important, that he was making a big deal for nothing. No, the one who_ listened _had been Izumi._

 _And Yoshi had just sent Izumi to his death._

" _Shit! Shit, shit, SHIT!" Yoshi swore, shooting at the door in desperation._

" _You're wasting bullets."_

" _I'll kill you, you fucking bastards!" Yoshi roared, punching the wall when he ran out of bullets. If it hurt, Yoshi's brain didn't fully register it. "Show yourselves cowards! Face us if you dare!"_

" _Dude, calm down."_

" _Calm down?!" Yoshi repeated, seething, "I won't calm down! These assholes hurt Izumi, they might as well have shot him through the head! YOU HEAR THAT? I WON'T CALM DOWN! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL…"_

 _Yoshi wobbled a bit. His head was starting to be dizzy. His eyelids felt heavy, his brain felt heavy, everything felt heavy. Why was the room turning?_

 _A hand shot up and grabbed his shirt, pulling him down. Maybe it was because it had caught him by surprise, maybe it was because he wasn't feeling so good at the moment, but Yoshi felt his balance fail and the boy crashed lamely to the ground._

 _The pain woke up his senses a bit though._

 _His face was right in front of Izumi's shoes. Yoshi tried getting up but a hand pressed his head to the ground._

" _What do you think you're doing you bit-" Yoshi started growling but he stopped midway when he noticed Viviane was lying on the ground as well. Unlike him, she looked perfectly awake and aware, as if she hadn't breathed in the smoke._

" _The gas rises." Viviane explained in her usual bored tone, "Stick to the ground to avoid breathing it."_

 _Much to his surprise, Viviane was bandaging Izumi's leg with his shirt. She licked the makeshift bandages before applying them, probably to disinfect the wounds as much as she could._

" _What are you doing?" He asked angrily._

" _Helping your friend?" Viviane replied as she knotted a strip of Izumi's shirt around a wound on his arm._

" _Now?" Yoshi stressed._

" _Might not have the opportunity later." Viviane shrugged. "It's better than yelling at the door like an idiot."_

" _Do_ you _have a better idea to get out of this shit?" Yoshi snapped, "We can't open the door, we can't break the walls, we can't escape through any other means and I promise you these sons of bitches won't come back until we die of asphyxiation. We're fucked! Bandaging Izumi won't help us! It's fucking useless!"_

" _Man, are you ever not pissed?" Viviane asked conversationally. She was just like all those annoying adults who looked down on Yoshi, who dismissed his anger as a teenage thing._

 _Yoshi's eyes flashed angrily._

" _What are you gonna do?" Viviane sighed, not even sparing him a glance, "Hit me?"_

" _I'm tempted to."_

" _Well go ahead if it makes you feel better." She rolled her eyes, "But I assure you, anger won't get us out of here."_

"Nothing _will get us out of here." Yoshi told her, "We're fucking fucked! Those fucking, cowardly bastards -"_

" _Yeah, yeah." Viviane dismissed, clearly concentrated on something else. In fact, Yoshi realised the girl had long stopped working on Izumi. She was doing something else entirely, tinkering with something small on the ground. Unfortunately, Yoshi couldn't see what it was because Izumi's legs were in the way. What he could see though, was that Viviane's eyes were much different than they usually were._

 _They were focused, alive._

" _What are you doing?" Yoshi growled, annoyed by how the girl didn't seem to give a shit that they were all about to die._

" _See,_ I _care about my life." Viviane replied, "Can you pass me your phone?"_

" _What?" Yoshi asked, clearly unsettled by her flippancy, "We're out of range here."_

" _Gee, I hadn't noticed." Viviane deadpanned, "Just give me your phone and go yell some more empty threats at the door or whatever keeps you busy."_

 _For reasons he ignored, Yoshi did hand her his phone. Her careless tone - no, it wasn't careless, it was some sort of reasonable - intrigued him more than he thought it would. Yoshi didn't even notice his anger and panic being quelled._

 _Viviane was up to something._ Viviane _. That girl who slept in class, that girl who rolled around in gym class instead of running, that girl who wouldn't move a finger unless the world was ending. Yoshi had never seen her as active as she was in front of death._

 _They were literally screwed, at death's door, and Viviane chose that moment to move her ass. It was too late. She should have done something earlier. Her struggle was pointless._

 _But there was something about her annoyingly cool attitude that didn't piss Yoshi as much as it should have._

" _Catch." She said a few minutes after._

 _Out of reflex, Yoshi caught his phone easily. Well, his_ phone _. It didn't look much like a phone anymore. The device was completely mutilated with parts Yoshi hadn't even known existed sticking out from suspicious places._

 _Before he could punch her, Viviane crawled away from Izumi and towards the door._

 _Out of curiosity, Yoshi joined her._

" _What's that?" He asked, looking at the curious object in her hands. It looked like it had once been her phone but just like his, odd pieces that definitely weren't supposed to be there had been dissected from the inner workings of the device. In particular, a small antenna was poking out from the top._

" _Gold." Viviane answered indifferently, "Nicked it from the chips of our three phones. It's a great conductor."_

" _And we need a great conductor because…?"_

" _Because if the door is being commanded from a distance, then it's through electrical communication." Viviane explained. She linked a phone battery to the minuscule golden rod she had put together and poked said rod under the door. She tried poking at different places under the door before it finally wobbled a bit, and opened just enough for mice to get through. A curtain of light penetrated the room, falling right on Yoshi._

 _Viviane hastily removed the rod before it could open further._

" _Play dead." She whispered and Yoshi didn't even protest._

 _Outside, the few men who had the job of guarding the room were talking. They could hear their voices perfectly well now that the door was partially opened._

" _Oi, did you see that?" One of them asked, "The door moved."_

 _The light from outside the room disappeared as one of the guards looked through the small opening._

" _The brats are passed out." He observed._

" _Must be a malfunction." Another guessed, "They couldn't have opened it from in there."_

" _You're right."_

" _Besides, they're drugged. They won't…" A guard trailed of "They won't… I… I don't…. Feel very…"_

" _Me… Neither…"_

" _The gas!" One of them realised, "The gas is… shit… The gas is…"_

 _One of the guards collapsed with a dull thud. He was soon followed by another._

" _I rigged your phone so it can be used as a taser." Viviane told Yoshi, "Knock out those who are left. Don't forget to stay as low as possible."_

 _Yoshi nodded, his heart beating loudly. It wasn't beating in fear or in rage but in excitement. It was hope. They could do this. They could survive. Izumi could survive._

 _Defying the odds was strangely thrilling._

 _Viviane used the golden rod again to open the door halfway this time, just enough for them to go through. As soon as it was the case, Yoshi burst out, quickly jabbing all the standing opponents he could see. There were only three left and all three were slightly out of it because of the gas. They barely put up a fight._

 _As soon as he was done, Yoshi crouched down. He was soon joined by Viviane who was pulling Izumi thanks to some weird ensemble of knots and pieces of clothes that acted like some kind of sleigh to the passed out boy._

 _Hours later, after having reached a hospital, the doctors told Yoshi it was a miracle that Izumi was still alive._

 _Years later, after having witnessed many of Viviane's 'miracles', Yoshi knew they weren't miracles. They were Viviane's strength. The girl never did anything unless it was strictly necessary for her survival; but when she did, Viviane never gave up hope, she never gave in to her emotions, to her fear, to her anger. She always found a solution, a small trick no one thought of, a twisted way to shed just a slither of light in the deepest, darkest holes of Hell._

 _With her at their side, Yoshi felt like they could move mountains and drink the Earth._

* * *

Yoshi woke up just as the train reached its destination. He felt a bit groggy from sleeping so much at once. He had been more on the paranoid side of the spectrum during the past year what with his family wanting him dead. Sleep wasn't easy when one was constantly on guard.

Yoshi had no trouble finding his way around. He was born and raised in Namimori after all. The district and the area around held no secret from him. Sure, there were some slight changes, a few dozens of skyscrapers missing, but the area still held the same spirit. Even if his eyes couldn't recognise everything, his intuition did.

Once he reached the actual town of Namimori, Yoshi focused on Viviane's flame. It was with his father's, he noticed with irritation.

And -

 _Shit_.

Hide.

Yoshi sprung to life as soon as he felt his older brother's flame approaching Viviane's. He was far, much too far and he knew that Viviane wouldn't go down without a 'fight' (Viviane's battles could hardly be called fights).

But still he ran. Yoshi wasn't going to take any chances when he was close enough to do something. He saw the massive explosion from afar and suddenly, Viviane and his father's flames were agitated, his father's growing exponentially.

Yoshi knocked some guy off his scooter and hijacked it. He was a mafioso, screw the law. If not for the free stuff, no one would be in the mafia anyway.

While all the other cars and pedestrians were running away from the scene, Yoshi rode against the current, nearly running over a child or two. Viviane could hold on her own but the more cards she had to play, the less she had to sacrifice.

As he closed in on Viviane's flame signature, he noticed from the corner of his eyes a figure shooting up to the sky, briefly accompanied by another figure who had to give up midway. Yoshi didn't even have to wonder about their identities; he was just glad Hide had flown off reach for now.

And then he remembered what kind of person Hibari Kyouya was.

Yoshi jumped off the motorcycle without breaking, allowing the contraption to continue past him and skitter to a halt meters away. He took out his gun thinking a blunt weapon was better than none and ran into the street from which the clouds of dust were escaping. Mechanically, he grabbed his second weapon from Viviane's hands and swirled in front of her just in time to stop a tonfa from hitting her.

The boy winced as he resisted the Tenth's strongest guardian's attack. Even being the same age as him, the man was already a monster.

A close range battle could only turn to his disadvantage, Yoshi reasoned. He kicked Hibari away and pointed his gun at him. For a second, Hibari moved to retaliate but his impressive instincts obviously held him back.

"Decorating the battlefield again, you useless piece of trash?" Yoshi smirked once he was certain Hibari wouldn't attack again.

"Eh." Said piece of trash shrugged. Her movements were a bit stiff and Yoshi realised she was injured. Brilliant. "Someone has to play the damsel in distress to get you mafiosi to move your asses."

"Damsel in distress." Yoshi snorted, "Take the role of the pot flower next time, woman. My girlfriend will kill me if you die." Any tension that had been paralysing his body previously washed away with the familiarity of their banter.

"Boo." Viviane fake-pouted, "And here I thought you actually cared."

Carefully keeping one hand aiming at Hibari, Yoshi offered his other one to the blond girl sitting on the beaten ground. He hadn't finished lowering his hand when Viviane's grabbed firmly. It took everything he had not to cry in relief.

Yoshi hadn't been scared. He didn't do scared. But being with his family, his _real_ family, brought him comfort he didn't always realise he needed. So when Viviane stood up and her blue eyes met his, Yoshi grinned like a madman and Viviane mirrored him.

They could do this.

"Oi, stop ignoring us!" An irate teenager growled from the sidelines. Yoshi glanced sideways to see a younger, scrawnier Gokudera Hayato. He had picked up pieces of what looked like an incomplete system CIA and was now looking quite murderous. It didn't take a genius to figure out why.

Hide.

"Don't mind me." Yoshi shrugged, "I'm just a good civilian picking up the trash from the street." He then started walking away, gesturing for Viviane to follow him with a slight jerk of the head. "Come on trash, we have things to do, people to find, brothers to murder."

It was a testament of how well they knew each other that Yoshi could _smell_ Viviane's eye roll.

"We didn't say you could go." Someone declared threateningly. Now, normally, Yoshi wasn't threatened by voices that high and that small. Only, the young mafioso could recognise that insufferable tone that reminded everyone of just what _that_ particular infant could do to grown men.

So Yoshi did stop.

"Look, as I said before," Viviane told them tiredly, "We mean no harm. We're just looking for a friend of ours."

"Who was that?" Hibari demanded, taking a fighting stance once more. Yoshi was almost tempted to put a bullet in his head there and then.

"None of your business." He settled down for snarling. Viviane slapped his arm.

"That man was using a fighting style that has been held secret by the Vongola family for centuries. It is every bit our business." Reborn reminded them, every drop of his sadistic playfulness replaced by his characteristic killing intent.

"That man is a psycopath." Yoshi growled. "He has been using that for years. Now if you're done with this pointless interrogation, we have a friend to find."

Viviane visibly perked up at his words, "You know where he is?" She asked.

"Yeah. He got here before me, probably around the time you arrived." Yoshi nodded, "We don't have a second to spare though; he's far."

"If he's been here for more than a day, you're right." Viviane agreed, looking serious.

"You're getting your shoulder checked out first." Yoshi stated.

The girl didn't even fight back. She knew better than that. "Of course, boss." She resigned herself instead.

"Then how about we strike a deal?" Reborn suggested, stepping closer to the two time traveller. Yoshi's eyes narrowed, clearly aware favours from the hitman didn't spring from the good of his heart. "We'll get you the medical treatment you need for your subordinate's shoulder."

"And in exchange you keep an eye on us," Yoshi concluded, "and get a few answers."

Reborn smiled, "That would be the general idea."

"Maybe we should wait for Ryuu-" Viviane started, uncertain. As always the girl preferred to defer important decision to others, even if Yoshi could definitely see the sense in her hesitation. However, the youngest heir to the Vongola family couldn't overlook her wound. She had gotten better at hiding it, but her pain tolerance was still way beneath that of any seasoned fighter.

"We accept," Yoshi decided, looking straight into Reborn's eyes to show the deal wasn't entirely on his term only, "but only if we can get a means of transportation to France as well."

"France?" Yoshi's young father repeated, looking incredulous, "Why France? Wait- nevermind that! We need to treat Viviane's wound immediately!"

"I second that motion," Viviane added, wincing.

"Yes," Reborn agreed with a smug smirk, "We'll have plenty of time for questions later."

Yoshi grimaced.

* * *

Tsuna wasn't entirely sure what to make of the two new intrusions into his normal life. He wanted to say that he was getting used to meeting all kinds of strange people these days, but that would be the same as admitting that the mafia had indeed become his life. Besides, these two were different from all the crazy that regularly crashed his daily routine. They were definitely suspicious and yet…

And yet it was the first time Tsuna had the feeling Reborn was making a huge mistake. Reborn was like a reference to the young Sawada, an all-knowing force that could never go wrong, and for all he complained about the baby's spartan methods and sometimes harsh decision, he knew to respect them.

Not this time though.

For some reason, he almost felt insulted as Reborn evaluated Yoshi with cold distance.

He trusted them. He just knew he could. Sure, there was no mistaking the ire in Yoshi's eyes when he looked at Tsuna. Tsuna had noticed it from the start; from the very moment the older boy had glanced his way as he had stood between Viviane and Hibari. Yoshi held very strong dislike towards Tsuna, if not blatant hatred.

But Viviane had protected him from that other guy in Hyper Dying Will mode hadn't she? That had to count for something, right? He didn't want to be their enemies. He didn't want to fight them. He didn't want to-

Xanxus.

Yoshi reminded him of Xanxus before the conclusion of the battles for the right to inherit the title of Decimo. Not that Tsuna had wanted to inherit that title in the first place. In fact, why didn't he just lose on purpose? He was disgressing. Yoshi was like a carbon copy of Xanxus in the way he held himself. He was arrogant, angry and rebelling against the world.

Yoshi was building walls around him, isolating himself. In fact, Viviane too had been deliberately pushing them away, giving away half truths and keeping secrets. There was just something unreachable about those two and it was endlessly frustrating. It was like seeing two wounded cats at the side of the road, licking each other's wounds and scratching away the hands that wished to help them even though they could barely walk by themselves. It was like having to watch them bleed to death with the power to save them but the instruction not to.

That was it; the distrust, the tension, the shadows in their eyes. They only saw danger in others.

"What's that look for?" Yoshi snapped, his arms crossed in front of his chest and his legs resting on the dining table.

They had gone back to Yamamoto's place, as it was the closest, and all the boys had gathered at the dining table while Viviane had her shoulder looked at by Bianchi who had been called over. It had only been seconds since they had settled down but Tsuna had still found himself staring at Yoshi.

Tsuna had to hold back a strangled scream at the older boy's sudden aggression. "S-S-Sorry!" He stammered, scooting as far away from Yoshi as his small chair allowed him.

"You don't get to apologise," Yoshi angrily growled, slamming his fist on the table, "What was it for?"

How had he been staring at Yoshi? Tsuna didn't normally pay attention to how his face betrayed his thoughts, no matter how important a poker face Reborn kept telling him was to a mafia boss. But just this once, he would have liked to know what his eyes had said for him. Whatever it was, it had made Yoshi all kinds of angry.

Yes, one could argue that Yoshi, like Xanxus, was always angry, but this was different. This was like when Xanxus's scars spread. It was a different kind of anger; the raw, desperate and frustrated anger of a child trapped in a cage whose every effort to escape was met with pathetic failure.

"Don't talk to the Tenth like that!" Gokudera defended, standing abruptly.

"I'll talk to that condescending ass however well I want to," Yoshi sneered, rising from his seat and meeting Gokudera at eye level.

"Gokudera," Tsuna started in an attempt to cool things down, "Yoshi-san, please don't-"

"Don't fucking order me around!" Yoshi interrupted, glaring intensely at Tsuna.

"Eep!" Tsuna squealed.

"Oi!" Gokudera protested, swinging dynamite between his fingers, "What the fuck is wrong with you? If you have a problem with the Tenth I'll be glad to put you back to where you belong!"

"Is that an invitation to reduce you to bits?" Yoshi asked with a smirk.

"As if you could- Fuck!"

Tsuna cringed as he watched Gokudera receive a well placed Reborn-kick on the back of his head, resulting in him crashing violently against the table.

The change in Yoshi following the interruption was almost imperceptible, but Tsuna didn't miss it. In a bat of an eyelid, the craze in Yoshi's eyes had evaporated and the tension in his fists relaxed. He had regained his composure. The older boy sat down again, still grimacing but in a more resigned way.

"You are the boss of the Notteconto family, correct?" Reborn asked him as he stood atop Gokudera's head.

Reborn hadn't really needed to ask the question. It was obvious from his sudden change in attitude that Yoshi was a boss, or at least a high ranking member of a mafia family. He had recognised Reborn for who he was, and showed him the respect and restraint he deserved. Though what that meant for how much respect he had for Tsuna and his guardians, Tsuna definitely did not want to know.

"What of it?" Yoshi confirmed.

"Why do you need to go to France?" Reborn inquired.

"One of my men is stuck there and requires assistance," Yoshi replied cooly.

"Is that the friend Viviane is looking for?" Tsuna asked, suddenly interested. The blond girl had seemed genuinely worried about her friend and Tsuna had no doubt he was in some kind of grave danger. If it was a matter of time, maybe they could help them somehow.

Yoshi clicked his tongue, "What did the useless trash tell you?"

"Not much," Yamamoto answered as he walked in with a teapot and stacked cups on a tray, "Just that she was afraid he'd get lost or something. I didn't think she meant he'd get all the way to France, haha! Tea?"

"No," Yoshi glared.

"Your story doesn't make sense," Reborn pointed out as Tsuna and a newly revived Gokudera grabbed a cup from the tray. "Why would Viviane be looking for him in Namimori if he's in France?"

"She didn't know he's in France and she was in Namimori, where else was she supposed to look?" Yoshi retorted irritably.

"But you knew he's in France?" Gokudera frowned, "Why didn't you tell her?"

"We have no means of communication," Yoshi admitted, "and we all got separated due to unfortunate circumstances."

"How bad was it?" Tsuna asked, "Are all your friends alright?"

"Stop." Yoshi ordered, his eyes once more flashing with rage, "Stop looking at me like that."

"E-Eh?" Tsuna flinched.

"And don't insult my family," Yoshi continued with a scowl, "If they were so weak then they might as well be better off dead."

Tsuna frowned.

"Oh?" Yoshi smirked, looking almost sadistically amused, "are you disapproving my attitude?"

Yoshi was testing him. No, he was toying with him. The older boy wanted to press his buttons, he wanted to push Tsuna into snapping. He wanted a reaction other than fear and worry - he wanted anger, an outburst, anything.

What had happened earlier made it obvious that Yoshi did in fact care for his subordinates, just like Xanxus did for the rest of the Varia.

Tsuna didn't reply.

"Tch. Typical."

"Your brother," Reborn continued with the interrogation, "Where did he get those flames?"

"Fuck if I know," Yoshi shrugged noncommittally, his eyes making their way to Tsuna, "Our _dear father_ always refused to tell me."

"And who, may I ask, is your father?"

Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto watched as Reborn fired questions at the boss of the Notteconto family. They knew they were completely outmatched when it came to mafia politics and mind games.

"Who cares, he's dead to me anyway. Are you done with this pointless interrogation yet?"

"Do you want to go to France?" Reborn challenged. Yoshi sighed and the hitman took it as a cue to resume. "What are your intentions towards the Vongola family?"

"Hopefully none," Yoshi replied monotonously, "We'd rather not get tangled up with big names. We're a small family with just a handful of members - what _can_ we do to a giant like the Vongola family?"

"Your brother hinted that Viviane may have some resentment towards us," Reborn remembered, "and Viviane did have knowledge of our weapons that should not be in the reach of a small family like yours. Explain."

"Hide tricked members of the Vongola to unwittingly hunt us down a while back. As for Viviane, she tends to know stuff. I stopped questioning her a long time ago."

"Not good enough."

"It's the only answer you'll get."

"The last time a small family claimed to be harmless we ended up with a disastrous inheritance ceremony and destroyed Vongola rings, why should we believe you?"

"We're literally asking you to send us to the other side of the fucking world," Yoshi argued, "we can't possible be more out of your hair than that."

"Viviane took a hit for me," Tsuna spoke up, trying to convince Reborn as well. "You said it yourself that she was not a fighter but she still put herself between me and that Hide guy."

"Tenth, you can't trust them so quickly-"

"But I _do_ ," Tsuna insisted, even though he didn't know why it was so important to get that message across. He needed his family to know he trusted these two strangers - no, he needed the two strangers to know he trusted them.

Tsuna met Yoshi's eyes with boiling fear inside and new determination on the surface.

"They won't betray the Vongola." He challenged the older boy.

And for the first time since they met, Yoshi stared back at him in surprise instead of suppressed hatred.

Tsuna's victory was short lived though, as a sudden chill ran through his spine. Slowly, carefully, and not without a frozen expression of unspeakable horror, Tsuna turned towards his tutor, who was wearing a smile Tsuna was sure he had learnt from the devil himself. Hell, it wouldn't surprise him if Reborn had taught the devil that smile instead.

Reborn had an idea.

And idea that was going to make him suffer.

"Ah er… " Tsuna stammered, "I-I just remembered I had something to do and-"

"Sit down, dame-Tsuna," Reborn ordered.

Tsuna gulped, and sat down.

"Now since Tsuna has declared the Vongola as allies of the Notteconto famiglia-"

"I-I never did that-"

"And has expressed his strong desire to see your situation through until it is resolved-"

"When did I say that?"

"-and since he has taken full responsibility of any consequence the Notteconto's actions may have on the Vongola-"

"Don't put words into my mouth!"

Reborn turned to Tsuna, "You seem to have gained a bit of courage, talking back to me like that."

"Eh? Eeeeh? No I-"

"It's decided then," Reborn nodded sagely, turning back towards Yoshi, "the Tenth and his guardians will accompany you to France and help you in your endeavour."

"EEEEH?"

"Haha, sounds fun!" Yamamoto cheered.

"No, not 'sounds fun'!" Tsuna fervently denied, "Reborn's trying to rope us into another one of his absurd ideas!"

"Yeah," Gokudera agreed, "Why should we help those bastards?"

"That's not what I meant…" Tsuna sweatdropped. Why were some of his guardians always so hard to handle? He respected the fact they had a mind of their own but they had unparalleled talent when it came to turning a deaf ear to what people meant wen they spoke. It was like they projected their own personality onto people's words. Yamammoto always thought people were saying nice and happy things, Gokudera always heard it in black or white, Ryohei thought everyone spoke with their hearts on their lips, and Lambo… Lambo just didn't listen at all, just like Hibari.

Woah, were _Mukuro_ and Chrome the only reasonable ones? It was a scary thought.

"We don't want your help," Yoshi growled, "We can deal with our own problems."

"Can you really?" Reborn asked, "Your friend Viviane only just recovered from collapsing and she's already injured again. Can you really protect her alone, when you have someone so dangerous after you?"

"Are you calling me weak?" Yoshi snarled.

"You're not a fighter either, are you?"

Tsuna nearly choked on his drink. Yoshi, not a fighter? The idea was ridiculous! The older boy had managed to fight on even grounds against Hibari, not to mention how he butted heads with everyone that looked at him wrong!

"Or at least," Reborn amended, "you're not a frontline fighter. I doubt you could even match a single one of Tsuna's guardians if they took you seriously."

"I held off his Cloud guardian earlier, didn't I?"

"Only because he goes easy on civilians, even if he won't admit it," Reborn smirked, "he had no intention of killing your friend Viviane, or even seriously injuring her."

"Ha!" Gokudera grinned, "so you're actually all talk, huh? That's what you get for disrespecting the Tenth!"

The glare Gokudera got for that remark could have frozen the Pacific Ocean. In fact, the temperature of the whole room seemed to have gone down a notch.

"Christ, who pissed off Yoshi this time?"

The four boys and baby turned to see Viviane and Bianchi making their way to the table. Viviane was wearing her old clothes, which were now out of the wash. They made a strange pair, her and her boss. While Yoshi was dressed in a fine, expensive dress shirt, with neat black pants, polished oxfords, a loose necktie and sleeves rolled up for style, Viviane had a simple white shirt with navy stripes, an oversized black hoodie, washed out jeans and dirty cream sneakers.

"Done crying over your paper cut, trash?" Yoshi deadpanned, earning an eye roll from the blond, "These idiots want to come with us to France."

"Ooh, bad idea," Viviane grimaced as she pulled out a chair to sit on.

"Why?" Tsuna asked, confused. He'd have thought Viviane would be the more reasonable of the two. Surely she had to realise they needed help.

Viviane inexplicably paled when their eyes met, "We'll be fine on out own, don't worry Sawada-san!" she reassured him frantically, "We're good at running away! Right, Yoshi? _Right_?"

" _You're_ good at running away," Yoshi corrected, "I simply approve of strategic retreats."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, boss," Viviane muttered under her breath.

"Are you alright Viviane-san?" Tsuna asked, noticing how strangely she acted. It was almost like when he had stepped into Yamamoto's shop and seen her the first time, "you look a bit pale."

"She's fine," Yoshi replied for her, "I can't believe you're still afraid of this weak ass kid, trash. Maybe we should take up their offer just so you can get used to being around him."

The whole room paused.

"Yoshi…" Viviane warned. There was some urgency in her voice but nothing spoke louder than the slight crease between her eyebrows and the small squeeze she was giving Yoshi's arm. They had gone from banter to serious discussion too quickly.

The two Nottecontos stared at each other, silently conversing. Looking at them, Tsuna noticed that they had exactly the same height. Viviane was rather tall for a girl and while Yoshi wasn't as small as Tsuna, he definitely wasn't in the top tier when it came to heights. They could only look straight into the eyes of the other.

Viviane called Yoshi her boss, but it was clear the hierarchy wasn't that one-sided. It was so very different from the relationship between Tsuna and his guardians.

Viviane sighed.

"Fine," she almost spat.

Yoshi nodded slightly and turned back to Reborn, "We accept."


	4. Take a fucking stand

"So why are you seating next to me?" Gokudera grumbled.

Viviane shrugged, "Yamamoto sat next to Yoshi, and I refuse to sit next to _that_ ," she explained as she jerked her thumb towards Sasagawa Ryohei, who was sitting across the aisle next to the Tenth, excitedly talking about boxing, something the whole plane was going to be seriously knowledgable of by the end of the ride. Already some of the people in his vicinity were putting earplugs. At this rate, they were going to get kicked out of business class.

"Fair," Gokudera conceded, "what about the Tenth?"

Viviane gave him a disturbed look, "Are you mad? I don't want to have to have to end up raising the next president of Russia. And I still have nightmares about butter."

"What?"

"Nevermind," Viviane dismissed, taking out the magazine in the pouch in front of her and flipping through the list of movies on the flight, "do you have any embarrassing stories?"

"If I did, why the hell would I tell you?" Gokudera scowled.

"Fair," Viviane agreed with a tilt of the head, "well, at least I tried."

It had only been a few hours since Yoshi had agreed to their help and already the two Notteconto, Reborn, the Tenth, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Sasagawa were on a plane to France. Gokudera had trouble understanding why they were going so far for a small family that hardly mattered at all, but Reborn had told him something along the lines of 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' and Gokudera had been hooked. The small hitman was always the wise one anyway, and he was glad he could study under such a great man.

Besides he was curious to know why the Tenth was so hung up on supporting them. Speaking for himself, Gokudera didn't trust them one bit. That Yoshi guy was too much like Xanxus and he wouldn't put it past him to try and murder the Tenth in his sleep to get the Vongola rings. It was a good thing both he and that Viviane girl were sitting next to Yamamoto and himself instead of the Tenth.

He had a harder time deciding what he thought of the Viviane girl. It was true she had saved the Tenth, but she was also Yoshi's subordinate, which made her liable of getting dangerous orders from the guy. Moreover, she wasn't just any subordinate. He could see it in the way Yoshi actually glanced at her before answering question, and in the way she always stood or sat close enough to him so that he knew she was there, supporting him.

Viviane was Yoshi's right-hand man. Or woman (Bianchi would kill him if he was being sexist even in his own head). And that made all the difference.

"You know, if you continue glaring at me like that I might break and tell you all our dirty secrets," Viviane deadpanned.

"Really?" Gokudera frowned.

"No. I hang around _Yoshi_. I'm immune to glares."

"Should you really say that about your own boss?" Gokudera asked, raising an eyebrow. He was a bit surprised at the mocking tone she had used - God knew he would never be able to talk down the Tenth that way, especially not behind his back. Was their relationship not as tight as his and the Tenth's?

"I have to," Viviane shrugged with a wicked grin, "otherwise his head might grow bigger, and then his girlfriend would kill me. It's self-preservation, really."

"He has a girlfriend?" Gokudera repeated, shocked. He tried imagining Xanxus with a woman but the thought perished just as quickly.

"I know right?" Viviane scoffed, "I had the same reaction!"

"You know I can hear everything you're saying, right?"

Gokudera startled as Yoshi's scowling head appeared over the seat in front of him, soon followed by Yamamoto's head.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Viviane smirked.

"Ah!" Yamamoto suddenly exclaimed, "Xanxus!"

"What?" Viviane and Yoshi asked simultaneously.

"I was wondering who you reminded me of, it's Xanxus!" Yamamoto cheerfully explained, "Haha, it's so obvious now!"

"It took you this long?" Gokudera grimaced, "You're an embarrassment to the Tenth's guardians, baseball-freak!"

"So, are you two related or someth-" Yamamoto started, ignoring Gokudera completely. Unfortunately, he was rudely interrupted by a snort.

Viviane suddenly burst out laughing, bending herself in half. She tried regaining control of herself but only ended up giggling more. "He does act like Xanxus, doesn't he?" she managed between breaths, "I am _so_ telling the others!"

"Don't you dare!" Yoshi hissed, his face red. Gokudera had to blink a few times to make sure but it wasn't a trick of the light. That older guy who had done nothing but look down on them and scowl from the beginning actually looked… Human.

"You see," Viviane whispered loudly, "Ever since he was small, Yoshi had a thing for Xanxus."

"Shut it trash!" Yoshi ordered, throwing his pillow at her face.

"I thought he had a _girl_ friend," Yamamoto frowned.

"It's an illicit aff - _ouch!_ Stop throwing stuff at me!" Viviane complained.

"Stop spouting nonsense then!" Yoshi snarled.

"He thinks it looks cool when he acts that way," Viviane continued with a straight face and a small sigh, "I don't know what to do with the poor boy."

"That's it," Yoshi growled, "Viviane watches magical girl anime in her free time."

…

What.

Gokudera had expected him to pull out his gun (which he knew Yoshi had gotten past security somehow) and instead what he got was… childish retaliation? What? Weren't they supposed to be eighteen years old and not, like, four?

"I do not!" Viviane protested.

"I saw your search history," Yoshi smirked, "And what was that about boy love fanfiction?"

Viviane turned red as well.

"I was curious!" Viviane pouted.

"Curious enough to start looking for doujinshi after?"

"Gokudera goes to cat shelters when he has free time and gives all the kittens there names," Yamamoto added to the conversation with a good-natured smile. The idiot probably thought it was some kind of contest about who knew the most embarrassing thing about the others.

Wait.

Waaaaaait.

"How the fuck do you know that?" Gokudera snapped.

"Eh?" Viviane exclaimed in mock shock, putting a hand in front of her mouth and turning to her boss, "he didn't even deny it."

"Take note," Yoshi advised.

"Yes boss," Viviane agreed, "Gokudera… cheats… on the Tenth… With cats… _regularly_."

"I do not cheat on the Tenth!" Gokudera spluttered, feeling his own face go red as well.

"But you do sleep with him," Yoshi confirmed, making both Viviane and Yamamoto snicker.

"Wha- No! I don't- we're not- I would never-"

"Is the Tenth not to your taste?" Viviane frowned, "I mean, maybe in the looks department he could use-"

"How dare you speak of the Tenth that way!" Gokudera growled, "I'll have you know that the Tenth is a smart, kind man with a great face and a great body!"

 ** _smash!_**

Gokudera froze as the three other teenagers' eyes grew wide.

A beet red Tenth was standing next to them, his glass of water having fallen from his hands and shattered on the floor as he stood there paralysed.

"Hey Tsuna!" Yamamoto cheered, "how's it going?"

"T-Tenth!" Gokudera stammered. Mortified didn't even _begin_ to express what he was feeling. Had he really said that in front of the Tenth? "I didn't mean- This wasn't - I swear they tricked me into-"

And then Tsuna did the one thing no one expected him to do: he laughed. It was a simple laugh - nothing like the one that had Viviane struggling for air just before. It was the kind of laugh people made after a bad a bad pun, or when watching a young kid be clumsy.

"I-It's fine Gokudera," he smiled, "it's fine to just be a teenager every once in a while. I was just - surprised."

"Huh?" Gokudera frowned. The Tenth had shown great kindness as always but there was something there in his words that Gokudera couldn't quite decipher.

Tsuna returned to his seat, leaving a quiet quartet behind. Yoshi, whose mood had gone sour the second he had seen the Tenth, sat back down with an 'mph!' and decided to sleep. Yamamoto started chatting with Sasagawa across the aisle and Gokudera fell into his thoughts. What had the Tenth meant by those words? He had to figure it out, otherwise he was a failure of a right hand man! What was it about the situation that the Tenth wanted to highlight?

All they had done was jab at each other. Was the Tenth telling him to keep an aggressive approach towards the two Notteconto? It didn't really seem like the correct conclusion, but what else could it be? And what did being a teenager entail?

Did the Tenth perhaps approve of obtaining the enemy's secrets? That one was crushing on Xanxus and that the other was totally a closet fujoshi? Gokudera didn't think any of that was true. They were giving out each other's secrets too easily, surely they had to be lies. Besides, what kind of right-hand woman reveals her boss's weakness so flippantly? It had to be a ruse because - Because a boss and his right-hand man/woman/non-binary person did not act like that towards each other.

It was almost like they were… What was it?

A warm hand interrupted his thoughts and Gokudera turned to find Viviane ruffling his hair a bit.

"What do you think you're doing woman?" He asked, scooting away from his neighbour. Sure she was older, and a girl, but he didn't want any stranger acting like a big sister towards him. He already had one and his intestines would not be able to handle another.

"You're thinking too hard about it," Viviane laughed, "take his words at face-value."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Gokudera scowled, "I don't want advice from a right-hand woman who doesn't even respect her boss! You got me in this mess in the first place!"

Viviane's eyes widened for a split second before melting into a fond smile.

"You did call me his right-hand woman before…" she muttered with a slight smile.

"Huh?"

"Look, I don't know about being a right-hand woman or being a right-hand man," Viviane shrugged thoughtfully, "but I do know that what my boss needs at his side is not someone who will agree to his every whim without question. I was originally blackmailed to be his tutor anyway; my job is to make sure he walks on a path he won't regret; even if it means clashing with him at times."

"So you fight with him?" Gokudera asked, looking positively horrified at the prospect.

"I speak my mind when I disagree with his opinion," Viviane replied earnestly in a tone eerily similar to what the Tenth had used just before. There was something he needed to learn from her words, he knew it. "Don't do things simply because you think it's what a right-hand man does, Gokudera. Do things because they're right, because you believe in them - If you want to do something for the Tenth, do things for yourself, because God knows the top is a lonely place."

"That doesn't make any sense," Gokudera pointed out.

"No one is perfect, Gokudera," Viviane clarified, "the day the Tenth makes a wrong decision because he is too caught up in the situation, if not his right-hand man, who will be there to slap him awake? Will you stick to worshipping him so strongly that you would willingly let him walk into his own demise? He already respects you enough to hear you out - a few words from you are all it takes to make him reconsider his options. Reborn won't be there forever to do it for you."

"Do I really have that power?"

Viviane smiled mystically, before putting on her headphones and starting a movie, leaving Gokudera dumbstruck at her words.

 _Viviane stared at the paper in her hand incredulously._

 _"_ _This is a joke, right?" She asked the two people sitting in front of her, eating their lunches._

 _"_ _It wouldn't be a very funny one if it was," Eric pointed out, biting into his store-bought melon bread. For someone who dressed like a butler on his days off, Eric certainly had a strangely unhealthy diet consisting of instant noodles, sweets and other cheap things he could find. "Are you perhaps not free?"_

 _"_ _I don't think the problem is the schedule," Viviane scoffed, "Are you seriously telling me the mafia actually do proper internships? What's next, scholarships?"_

 _"_ _If it's scholarships you're interested in," Eric so helpfully filled in, "I would recommend sending your current achievements to the P_ _roiettile_ _Universita. If the Tenth writes you a recommendation letter-"_

 _"_ _I was kidding," Viviane interrupted, still trying to wrap her mind around the paper in front of her. But scholarships too? Really? What was the point of the mafia if it was so… official? "What even is the Varia anyway?"_

 _"_ _I don't believe it," Yoshi scowled, "You don't even know the Varia?"_

 _"_ _Is it a famous company? What do they do?"_

 _"_ _It's the independent assassination squad associated to the Vongola family," Eric explained._

 _Viviane choked on her sandwich._

 _"_ _You want me to do an internship in the WHAT?"_

 _"_ _Yoshimune-sama has been trying to get a place in for years but unfortunately the placement requires at least two teammates." Eric elaborated._

 _"_ _Why would you need teammates for an internship?" Viviane frowned._

 _"_ _To make photocopies and coffee, of course," Eric replied._

 _"_ _Why on Earth would you need three people to make coffee and photocopies?"_

 _"_ _Well, at the minimum, you need someone to look out for the killer cyborgs, and someone to run the operation behind a screen. You wouldn't send a man into enemy territory alone, would you?" Eric answered, as if it was common sense._

 _"_ _For photocopies? I give up, this has got to be one giant cosmic joke," Viviane sighed._

 ** _Slam!_**

 _"_ _Do not make fun of the Varia in my presence, trash," Sawada spat, bringing down his fist on her table, "And don't you dare make a fool out of me in front of their boss, you hear me?"_

 _"_ _Chill, I'm not signing the paper, I'm not going and thus I won't be there to make you look more like an idiot than usual," Viviane diplomatically replied._

 _"_ _You're going," Sawada insisted with a snarl._

 _"_ _Uhm… No."_

 _"_ _You don't have a choice."_

 _"_ _Yes I do and I say no."_

 _"_ _I already forged your signature."_

 _"_ _You what."_

 _"_ _And we've already been accepted."_

 _It was the same thing all over again. Just like the Akari kidnapping incident a two weeks back where Sawada had simply dragged her into it regardless of her protests. Sawada just wasn't the type to listen to others. Hell, having grown up with his dad on top of the underworld probably had him develop some sort of superiority complex! Viviane wanted nothing more than to show him the world didn't bend itself to accommodate him._

 _One death defying situation was enough for her. And at least the last one had been an emergency. There was no way in Hell she would repeat the experience, especially not willingly and for the sake of some ass-noodle who probably couldn't even remember her name!_

 _"_ _I'm not going," she told him, "just take Akari with you instead."_

 _"_ _Izumi is a_ civilian _, trash," Sawada growled, "I'm not bringing him there."_

 _"_ I'm _a civilian!" Viviane reminded him exhasperatly._

 _"_ _Yes, but you're expandable," Sawada conceded._

 _"_ _Yeah well let's see about that when you turn up without me," Viviane huffed as she stood up before storming out of the class._

 _Turn him into a great man her ass. Sawada was a desperate case; there was no one more rotten and disrespectful in the whole world. She really didn't know why his father still bothered with him. In fact it was probably because he had been spoiled to bits in his youth that he had come out with such a huge delusion of himself._

 _Viviane stopped short on her way to the bathroom. Very short. In fact, she had only taken a few steps out of the classroom after her dramatic exit that she noticed who was leaning against the wall._

 _"_ _Akari-san," she found herself greeting him in surprise, "you're out of the hospital."_

 _Akari Izumi was still using crutches to hobble around and Viviane didn't miss the bandages peeking out from under his uniform. He was by all means a rather unremarkable guy which made a great contrast with Sawada, who demanded attention with just his breath. Other than his chipped ear, he had that spiky black hairstyle so many Japanese boys shared, a few buttons on his face, a scrawny frame and eyes of the most common brown._

 _He smiled a lot when he was around Sawada. In fact, Viviane saw him as a rather cheerful person in general. But this time, his eyes were downcast and his smile flipped around._

 _Oh no. Drama alert._

 _"_ _Are you alright?" Viviane asked despite her strong wish to ignore it and not get involved further._

 _"_ _Ah," Akari said, as though he only just noticed she was there, "yes, I'm fine. I heard I owe you my life. Thank you, Pillars-san."_

 _"_ _That's a bit exaggerated," Viviane told him, "It was mostly that friend of yours who got you out."_

 _"_ _But you were there," Akari argued with a hint of bitterness in his voice._

 _"_ _I was dragged there by the skin of my neck," Viviane sighed, "Seriously, as much as I hate to admit it, Sawada should get your full gratitude."_

 _It was the wrong thing to say apparently, as Izumi's eyes just skittered away once more under the shadow that hung on his face._

 _"_ _Are you sure you're-"_

 _"_ _You should take the internship," Akari suddenly told her with a small smile, albeit not a very sincere one._

 _Viviane blinked._

 _"_ _I've been hanging around Yoshi since elementary school, Pillars-san," Akari laughed as he looked at the shock on her face, "I'd need to be a particular brand of oblivious not to notice all the shady business around him. I'm obviously too weak to be any help to him but you… You can be by his side without hindering him. Hell, he wants you there instead of just pushing you away from that part of his life…"_

 _"_ _Whoa wait," Viviane interrupted, "You actually want to be part of this crap?"_

 _"_ _Isn't it natural to want to help a friend?" Akari asked her in return, "Not that I can do much. You have no idea how much I wish I was half as strong as you."_

 _"_ _I'm not strong at all," Viviane snorted, "Back at the factory it was mostly him yelling and acting like a hero and me hiding behind walls."_

 _"_ _Then what is that you have and I don't?" Akari snapped, making Viviane flinch. "Why am I too weak and you're not? Why was I the one to save and you the one saving? Why didn't Yoshi ever even bring up the internship with me when he wanted it so badly all along?"_

 _Viviane didn't flinch when Yoshi had outbursts of anger, but that was because Yoshi was always angry. Akari was never angry, which meant that when he was, it raw and unpredictable and he certainly wasn't in control of himself._

"You're spacing out, trash."

Viviane looked up from the belt that was carrying all the suitcases to see Yoshi standing next to her. Behind them, Gokudera was profusely apologising to the Tenth for having received his bag before him, Yamamoto was laughing, Sasagawa was using a few strangers' bags as dumbbells and Reborn was keeping an eye on the two time travellers from a distance.

They had landed an hour ago already, after a long flight of movie marathons and bothering Gokudera. Okay, so maybe bothering Gokudera wasn't the smartest thing to do in their situation, but Viviane could hardly help herself when it had been so long since she had actually met him in a situation where he wasn't trying to rip her intestines apart.

"Where exactly is Izumi?" Viviane asked Yoshi.

"Where Il Corno was found about four years from now," Yoshi replied, "Somewhere about an hour away from Bordeaux. I've already told Reborn so he could arrange transportation to there from here."

"Izumi's there already?"

"Yes. He was already somewhere in Germany when I arrived," Yoshi shrugged, "he probably hitchhiked his way there through sheer will power."

Viviane snorted, "Sounds like him. I can definitely see him pestering Europeans with over-exaggerated gestures to get messages across."

"It's a miracle if he didn't get arrested," Yoshi grimaced.

"Oi!" Gokudera called, "Nottecontos! We need to talk!"

Viviane and Yoshi turned around to see the Tenth and his guardians huddled around Reborn, who seemed to be on the phone.

"What?" Yoshi scowled, probably irritated by how they were called over.

"We've just received a phone call from the Vongola HQ in Italy," Reborn explained, keeping the phone close to his ears, "two youngsters have shown up claiming to be Nottecontos and asking to see the Ninth."

"Really?" Viviane grinned. She knew Yoshi always could tell where the others were, or at least where those who had already arrived in the past were, but since she personally couldn't, it was a relief to hear from them, even through others.

"Probably Ryuu and Ren," Yoshi nodded, "They were in Italy last I checked and knowing them, it wouldn't be too hard for them to find each other."

"Still, the Vongola HQ?" Viviane sighed, "They're not starting small… but I guess Ryuu knows what she's doing."

"I take it they left a message?" Yoshi guessed.

"Yes," Reborn nodded, "It seems a girl with a black bob said to tell you 'to focus on finding Sunshine and Satan while your faithful servants handle all the superficial formalities'."

"Nice alliterations," Viviane laughed, "and very definitely Ryuu."

"So you confirm they are your men?" Reborn asked.

"And women," Gokudera added.

"Yes," Yoshi nodded, "They'll want to discuss a neutrality treaty with the Vongola family."

"Eh?" Tsuna frowned, "but I thought we were already allies."

"You're not the Tenth yet you fucking simpleton," Yoshi growled, making Tsuna cower, "you don't have the authority to speak for the Vongola family. What you say only applies to your guardians."

Viviane sighed. When it came to dysfunctional families, the Sawadas really were competing for the top. Even back in the past the drama was overwhelming and Viviane knew better than to expect Yoshi to play the bigger man.

Though to be honest, it was one of the things she never understood about the Tenth boss of the Vongola family, back in their time. Those very same eyes that seemed to see through everything appeared blind when it came to his sons. Did he really not notice that his very smile hurt Yoshi more than anything? Did he really not notice that his decision on the succession was what had started this whole mess?

Viviane had a lot of respect for the man and while she preferred having a few small countries like China or Russia between the two of them, she instinctively knew that he wouldn't want harm on anyone. It was only his sons he allowed himself to hurt.

It was no wonder Yoshi wanted to bash his head in even when he was only fifteen.

"Oi, what's your problem?" Gokudera defended his boss, stepping in front of the smaller boy.

"Nothing is his problem," Viviane intervened. Normally, Yoshi's rudeness was nothing to pull the emergency alarm for but when it came to the Tenth, his aggressive attitude was not just cosmetics. She shot Yoshi a warning glance, which he reciprocated in a way that clearly said 'I'll behave as long as he doesn't breathe wrong'.

Sigh. Yoshi was such a teenager. Was his rebel phase going to last a lifetime?

"I've given Ryuu the power to speak in my name," Yoshi added after a pause, "Her words are my words."

"Ryuu is the small woman with short black hair and an hourglass figure that makes straight girls and gay guys sexually confused," Viviane described, "In case you weren't sure. Yoshi doesn't always take in consideration that not everyone in the world knows the names of the lustrous members of our oh so great family."

"Very well," Reborn accepted, "I'll relay that information."

And so he did.

Unfortunately, the Tenth's bag had still not arrived yet and the group of teenagers found themselves waiting more. After twenty minutes, Sasagawa and Yamamoto had started a thumb wrestling tournament with just the two of them participating over and over again, Gokudera was complaining to an airline staff as he thought the Tenth shouldn't be made to wait and Reborn was bullying the Tenth into something Viviane was too far to hear.

Viviane and Yoshi had settled for getting warm drinks from the nearby cafe. Apparently Yoshi had figured that the one thing Viviane was not completely useless for was ordering food in France, due to her native tongue. Because obviously tinkering with a time travelling device and saving all their asses for a year on the run didn't count for much. It was nice to feel appreciated like that.

The eighteen year old girl took a sip from her hot chocolate thoughtfully.

Between all the running around, falling sick, being injured and keeping Yoshi from mutilating his teenage father, Viviane hadn't really taken the time to consider just how surreal their situation was. The Tenth and his guardians were actually younger than them - Hell, she had given advice to her own future mentor! It was a bit sad to see how little he trusted her in this time, but then again, they themselves had long stopped relying on the other Vongolas back in their time.

They were all so innocent and carefree. Viviane almost felt sorry for all the shit that was about to go down because of their presence in the past. Casually drinking hot chocolate in a cafe was not something any of them were going to be able to do soon enough.

"Something's wrong," Yoshi suddenly muttered as he stirred his pure black coffee.

"Intuition?" Viviane guessed.

"It's been bugging me since Reborn's call," Yoshi confirmed, "but I can't tell what."

"Is something happening to Ryuu and Ren maybe?" Viviane suggested, worried, "they're in a meeting with the most powerful Don in the world - anything can go wrong. Ryuu is a decent fighter, and so is Ren but-"

Viviane froze.

Yoshi froze.

"Fuck," he swore.

"Ren would never willingly walk into the Vongola HQ," Viviane realised, "not so openly. Even if he wanted to provide help for Ryuu, walking in with her is completely counter productive!"

"But Ren is the only other in Italy," Yoshi told her seriously. "Yuri is still unaccounted for but that's because she hasn't landed in the past yet. I wouldn't miss her flames."

"Ryuu called them 'your faithful servants'," Viviane remembered, "she sometimes calls us all that as a joke but often, it just refers to her and Eric to piss you off. Obviously she wouldn't want to outright give their names in the message in case it was intercepted along the way but she would still want any of us to recognise the sender in case we aren't with you. She's convinced she's with Eric and it takes more than good acting skills to fool her."

"But Eric is in Japan," Yoshi continued, his eyes turning murderous.

"Which means Hide is not the only bastard to have already landed in the past," Viviane paled.

"We need to fucking leave now," Yoshi concluded, "Whatever bastard number one is planning it will most certainly turn the Vongola against us again and the meeting has already been going on for long enough. It's only a matter of time before Reborn gets the order to capture us."

"They know where we're headed," Viviane bit her lip, "They know where Izumi is."

"Which means we have to get there before them," Yoshi agreed.

"What about Ryuu?" Viviane asked.

"She can persuade them to keep her alive; it's what she's good at," Yoshi told her confidently, "I should be able to send Ren the instruction to bust her out as soon as he can. In the meantime, get us out of here."

"No problem."

Viviane flicked her drink, making it topple all over her boss.

"Fuck!" Yoshi cried as he abruptly stood up, "what was that for?"

The immediate surrounding as well as the Vongola guardians turned to see what the commotion was, only to be met with a red-faced Yoshi whose immaculate white shirt had turned brown. Gokudera started laughing, much to Yoshi's dismay.

"Getting us out," Viviane whispered with a wicked grin, "and for buying new clothes when Hide was trying to decapitate me. Oops!" she added louder, "My bad! Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

Viviane grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the bathroom, which was between the baggage retrieval and the exit. Of course, she knew Reborn wouldn't be fooled by such a textbook way of escaping. He wasn't one of the greatest hitmen in the world for no reason and there was no way he'd let them out of his sight so easily. However, it was enough to placate the other guardians, and that was all that mattered for now. If Reborn hadn't drastically changed his hunting habits in twenty five year, then he'd come after them alone.

"Prepare a stasis bullet," Viviane instructed her boss, "we'll stage an inside fight. Shoot me with it, then when Reborn comes around, shoot him with the cure, miss him, and revive me instead. I still have a bottle of sleeping gas from Ren that should work as long as he notices it too late. The sleeping gas will take care of any onlookers as well hopefully and the commotion that will follow should hold the others back long enough."

Yoshi nodded, already retrieving the correct bullets from his pockets. They had already quickened their pace and walked past the bathroom.

To her surprise though, it wasn't Reborn that intercepted them when they were about to leave the CDG airport.

"Viviane-san, Yoshi-san!"

It was the Tenth, who was running towards them calling their names.

Out of surprise, the two of them did stop and Viviane felt Yoshi tense next to her.

The Tenth grabbed her arm, almost desperately.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" He asked.

"Us? Leaving? Pfff!" Viviane nervously laughed, "Of course not!"

Yoshi facepalmed.

"We can help you," the Tenth insisted, "you don't have to do this on your own."

"D-Do what?" Viviane asked, forcing an unnatural smile and clearly avoiding those cursed mind-reading eyes, "we're not doing anything suspicious. We're normal law abiding citizens on a quest for a new shirt. Nothing illegal or mafia-ish about any of that. I'm technically not even part of the mafia. There's a suspicious person over there. Ask them. I saw them give chocolate to a dog."

"We don't need your help," Yoshi cut in rudely, "We got to France; you've outlived your usefulness brat."

"You don't mean that," the Tenth frowned, looking very much like a child who was told the holidays were cancelled, "I know you're not bad guys."

"And what if we are?" Yoshi challenged him, taking a step towards the fifteen year old to tower over him.

"Which we're not," Viviane stressed for clarification.

"What makes you so sure that we're on your side?" Yoshi insisted angrily, "and why should _we_ believe _you_? Stop taking everyone for fools, _Tenth_. Heart-to-Hearts and sparkle friendships without basis have no place in this world. Grow up: The mafia works in trades and deals and there's strictly nothing for you to gain by helping us. At this rate, you'll just fall into deceit and get everyone you care about killed."

The Tenth, who had looked scared out of wits by Yoshi at the beginning of the conversation, was slowly melting into a different expression, one Viviane recognised very well from his future self. It was soft and yet full of a dim pain, of a bitter twist of the heart. It was that very same look Viviane always saw him give Yoshi, that look that had her boss smashing furniture for hours and punch walls until his knuckles bled.

Yoshi suddenly grabbed the front of his father's shirt and dragged him to a corner where no one was looking between a wall and a potted plant. He lifted the boy a few millimetres off the ground and slammed him against the wall.

The Tenth cringed in pain but to his credit, he didn't cry out.

"Don't you fucking pity me," Yoshi snarled, his eyes lighting up with ire, "don't you fucking dare pity me. You're always like that; looking down on others like you know everything, like you're worth more! But you know what? You're full of shit, Tenth. You speak of love and family and yet you can't even be bothered to look me in the eyes and speak your fucking mind. I'm sick and tired of your lies and half-assed words!"

"I-I'm not lying!" The Tenth squeaked, "I want to help you!"

"Bullshit." Yoshi spat as he released the younger mafioso, who crumbled to the ground, "your words mean nothing to me."

"Wha-" The Tenth coughed, "What about my actions then?"

Yoshi paused, looking down on his father who was defiantly looking up at him. It was a strange picture, a parody of the relationship between Sawada Yoshimune and Sawada Tsunayoshi where the roles were reversed.

"Reborn wanted to go after you," Tsuna told them, "but I convinced him to let me go instead. I said I'd bring you back no matter what - by force if need be."

"And?" Yoshi asked.

"I said it before didn't I?" the Tenth smiled hesitantly, "I trust you two."

"You're going to regret it," Yoshi replied cooly.

"I won't," the Tenth insisted, looking every bit as determined as he usually was terrified.

"Whoa, wait," Viviane paused their conversation, "you're just going to, _let us_ _go_?"

"Is that a problem?" The Tenth frowned, turning to her.

"Yes!" Viviane quickly replied, "I mean no - yes, it's fine, no it's not a problem - but just… are you sure?"

"I…" the Tenth started, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure."

Those words weren't spoken lightly; they couldn't have been. It was clear the Tenth's relationship with Reborn was nowhere as balanced as Yoshi and Viviane's. Even in their own time there was a residue of hierarchy between the two - and that Tenth was at the top of the criminal underground of the whole world. This Tenth wasn't even subtle about lowering his head to the baby hitman. From the start he was being kicked around. Yes, he complained, but overall, the Tenth was a behaved child, a yes-man, when it came to Reborn.

This, however, was defiance. It was _complete_ defiance.

And Yoshi understood defiance more than anyone.

 _"_ _Why am I here?" Viviane asked, feeling uneasy walking in plain sight in the middle of the Vongola Headquarters. The last time she had set foot there, she'd end up blackmailed into the mafia, and her life had taken a dip into chaos._

 _"_ _Having a subordinate with me during meetings makes a better impression," Sawada replied dryly, adjusting his tie._

 _"_ _Of course," Viviane grimaced, "'Stand there and look pretty' is it?"_

 _Sawada didn't deign respond but for once, Viviane knew it wasn't a jab at her. No matter how much of an angsty brat he was, Sawada held deep respect for honour and traditional values. It didn't take much to see how much he cared about the Vongola family and how seriously he played his part in its survival. To him, this was a place of business and no amount of fooling around would be accepted._

 _Hell, he hadn't even sent a single comment at the men escorting them to the meeting room, even though they were all clearly his father's._

 _"_ _Isn't that what Eric's for anyway?" Viviane pointed out, still trying to adjust her walk to the tight skirt and heels she was forced to wear for the occasion._

 _"_ _Eric isn't my subordinate," Sawada stated blankly, "he's my father's eyes."_

 _"_ _Aren't I technically also your father's subordinate?" Viviane frowned, "I mean he did sic me on you."_

 _"_ _Your mind is your own, that is enough," Sawada answered coldly, his distaste for Eric rolling off his skin in waves, "I do not need anyone who can't think for themselves, and least of all someone who just parrots my father's opinions and executes his orders like a trained monkey. Besides, the robot will have his own seat for this meeting. Now shut up and walk."_

 _Viviane sighed._

 _Sawada wasn't wrong though, Eric did have his own seat in the meeting. He was apparently the substitute for the leader of his branch of the family, as the later was unavailable. He even had his own subordinate standing behind him, looking just as tired as Eric._

 _Viviane couldn't blame Eric for the bags under his eyes. Following Sawada around was a pain in the arse, and should probably be considered as a capital punishment. Sawada certainly didn't make it any easier for the red headed boy. On the contrary, he took any chance he had at hindering Eric's babysitting job, ditching him whenever he could and tying his shoelaces together to trip him. Very few people noticed it at school, but Eric had always been Sawada's primary target for bullying. And the worst was, Sawada was right. Eric never complained or did anything against the obvious attacks on his person. He just remained silent throughout the torture and never, ever retaliated. Even Viviane was disturbed at how he let himself be walked all over - only to offer a polite smile and his service to Sawada._

 _The meeting was done over dinner, oddly. About twenty head of branches were seating in front of a copious meal, and at the head of the table was the Tenth, whom Viviane was seeing again for the first time since the blackmail. To her surprise, he acknowledged her existence with a nod before starting the meeting._

 _It was a strange experience, attending a mafia meeting. The atmosphere was nowhere as tense as Viviane would have imagined, and the dinning room was nowhere as impressive as the rest of the mansion. The ceiling was low, and the room small and cramped. Whereas golden colours were favoured in other rooms, this one was dominated by bare wood, vintage posters and small trinkets that looked like they were acquired at a garage sale. The overall decoration was simply… noisy. There really were no other words for it._

 _It looked more like a bar than a luxurious dinning hall. It was warmer, and more familial._

 _Around the table, everyone save for Sawada looked comfortable. They seemed tired, sure, but no one was trying hard to look impressive, as if they were at ease with each other's judgements._

 _"_ _I'm sure some of you are wondering why Eric is sitting at this table instead of Chrome," the Tenth started, his tone serious, "or rather, I'm sure most of you have guessed it."_

 _"_ _For the same reason Chrome was standing in for Mukuro?" A man guessed, a sombre shadow being cast over everyone._

 _The Tenth nodded, his jaw clenched in frustration, "As of yesterday, Chrome Dokuro is officially MIA."_

 _"_ _And we still have no words from Mukuro and Fran?" A young man with a striking resemblance to the Tenth asked. The whole table turned to Eric, who was keeping his usual impassive expression, despite the obvious pity everyone was offering him._

 _"_ _None," he confirmed, "but the Kokuyo group is doubling its efforts to locate them. We're currently considering contacting other families' Mist divisions, if you were to allow us to. They haven't reported any missing members yet, but neither have we. If this were to have a bigger scale, it would perhaps help isolate possible threats."_

 _The Tenth nodded, "It is a good idea, but you won't be carrying it out."_

 _Eric frowned, "Is there a particular reason?"_

 _"_ _Whoever is responsible for this, they are clearly targeting the Kokuyo members from the top," the Tenth explained, "I cannot risk having you on the frontlines of this investigation where it will be easier to get to you."_

 _"_ _We could use Eric as bait," Sawada pointed out. Viviane was tempted to roll her eyes._

 _"_ _No," the Tenth shot down coldly, "the Kokuyo group will stay_ out _of this investigation."_

 _"_ _If it is out of concern for our wellbeing," Eric said, with more force than Viviane had ever heard him use, "please reconsider. We can defend ourselves - and I am not abject to Yoshimune-sama's idea."_

 _"_ _My decision is final," the Tenth replied, meeting Eric's eyes._

 _"_ _Very well," Eric nodded, "I shall inform our men to stand down."_

 _"_ _Thank you, Eric," the Tenth smiled._

 _And the meeting droned on as food was slowly consumed. It was hard to keep up with all the information passed around as Viviane couldn't tell for her life who was who and what branch did what, not to mention all the Italian passed around. Sawada seemed absorbed in the conversation though, even if he grimaced every time his father opened his mouth._

 _The meeting finished on small details that were easily resolved, and Viviane only realised it was over when everyone stood up and started filing out of the room. Unsure what else to do, she followed Sawada outside, where the young man who looked like the Tenth awaited them._

 _"_ _Yoshi!" The young man smiled, "I haven't seen you in months."_

 _"_ _Same," Sawada replied, surprisingly civil, even - dare she say it? Friendly. "How was Algeria?"_

 _"_ _Ugh. Business there is sooooooo hard," the man whined, before turning to Viviane, "And you must be Viviane. I'm really sorry you had to get involved in all this. Father's decisions are not always… clear."_

 _Sawada raised an eyebrow, clearly unaware of the circumstances of Viviane's involvement with the Vongola._

 _"_ _I'm Sawada Hidetada," the young man presented himself with an easy smile, "Yoshi's older brother. Please call me Hide."_

 _"_ _Nice to meet you," Viviane replied, shaking his hand, "Wait - you guys are_ related _?"_

 _Sawada rolled his eyes while Hide laughed._

 _"_ _Shocking isn't it?" Hide winked, before turning to his brother and asking in a theatrical voice, "How goes the search for guardians, brother dearest?"_

 _Sawada grimaced, "You know as well as I do that there is no search. Guardians are for the boss, and we both agreed you'd inherit the family."_

 _"_ _Father is going to force some on you if you continue to stall," Hide warned his brother with concern, "Eric and Viviane haven't been assigned to you by coincidence. If you don't hurry you'll be surrounded by people who are loyal to him."_

 _Well, Viviane wouldn't exactly call herself loyal to the Tenth, but she could see what Hide meant. Not about the guardians and all, obviously. She had no idea who the guardians were. However, if his introduction was any indication, Hide knew that Viviane had been caught breaking into this very mansion, which meant he knew that she was essentially being blackmailed by the Tenth._

 _Was that what it was though? Was she just another chain to keep Sawada in line? To force him into his father's mould? It was no wonder Sawada hated Eric and her so much. Not that that gave him reason to be such an arse all the time._

 _"_ _I don't need guardians," Sawada insisted with a growl._

 _"_ _Father won't let either of us get out of this fight," Hide told him sadly, placing a hand on his shoulder. They were standing intimately close to one another, and Viviane was surprised to see Yoshi accept the affectionate gesture without protest. "Just - Just find six people. Rejecting the whole procedure out of principle isn't going to do anyone any good. All you need are six people who can say 'I surrender'. I know how much you hate dishonesty but - but Father is a hard man to work around… and you only have a year left."_

 _Sawada's eyes flickered to the ground._

 _"_ _Think on it," Hide advised, then, with a teasing grin, "besides, who knows? You might even make friends."_

 _And just like that the storm of cheer that was Hide passed._

 _"_ _So, home?" Viviane suggested._

 _"_ _Yeah - No." Sawada suddenly decided, his head snapping around like a cat who had caught sign of a possible danger, "Something's wrong."_

 _"_ Can _this day get any longer? Everyone else already left!" Viviane groaned, "and what are you? Psychic?"_

 _"_ _I just… Had a feeling…" Sawada frowned, clearly too engrossed by this feeling to maintain his usual thorny image, "Come."_

 _"_ _Please tell me you're kidding," Viviane deadpanned, already very aware that she was going to get dragged in this anyway._

 _He wasn't kidding. Sawada took off, speed walking from one corridor to another. He had the place memorised obviously, but the way his eyes roamed around indicated he wasn't sure what he was looking for. If he was looking for anything that existed._

 _Call Viviane skeptical but a feeling wasn't exactly cause enough for concern in her opinion._

 _But walking around Vongola mansion alone? Where she could potentially bump into the Tenth? Hell no. Sawada was not leaving her behind._

 _Before she knew it, they were out of the luxurious castle-like part of the mansion and into the metallic, narrow corridors that reminded Viviane a bit too much of spy movies. There wasn't a single door which wasn't locked by three different systems, and Viviane knew, because she had had to break a few when she'd stalked her brother._

 _"_ _There," Sawada said, pointing to a door as he came to a stop._

 _"_ _Is it not supposed to be closed?" Viviane guessed._

 _"_ _It's not supposed to be opened," Sawada replied._

 _"_ _Then where's the problem?" Viviane huffed, "It's closed!"_

 _"_ _Someone's in there," Sawada snapped, clearly annoyed at Viviane's constant complaining._

 _"_ _You have X-Ray vision or something?"_

 _"_ _Intuition."_

 _"_ _We are so not going to investigate things based on your intuition."_

 _"_ _I'm your boss, trash. We're doing as I say."_

 _"_ _You are not my boss! I'm not even part of this 'family'! Argh! You are so -! What is behind this door anyway?"_

 _"_ _Communication Archives. Don't you know anything you useless waste of space?"_

 _Before she could reply, Sawada shut her up with a 'stop' gestured. He entered a combination, swiped a card and opened the door to the Communication Archives. As soon as the door swung open, Viviane felt a chill down her spine._

 _The Communication Archives were huge, and very dark. Viviane didn't think she'd see a place like this in this day and age. Rows of shelves of stacked paper stripped the room, all covered in vague and coded labels, for those she could read. Even with the light from the corridor spilling in the room, Viviane couldn't see its opposite wall, and it almost looked like the shelves were plunging straight into darkness._

 _Sawada stepped forward and walked, as if he knew exactly where he needed to go._ Was _he really psychic? Viviane followed a few steps behind._

 _They zigzagged amongst the quiet shelves for a while and then things went a bit too quickly for Viviane to process._

 _A large shape suddenly emerged from the darkness and tackled Sawada to the ground - all without making a sound save for Sawada's groan as he hit the floor. Now, Viviane had seen Sawada fight before, but it still amazed her to see him kick the figure upwards, sidestep a jab from… something, and then wipe out a knife like it was an extension of his own arm._

 _She had seen him take out a squadron of grown, trained men by himself. She knew Sawada was more than good when it came to fighting._

 _So why exactly was he losing?_

 _It took a while for her to realise it, but the figure - who was definitely human now that her eyes were getting used to the dark - was effectively pushing Sawada back. In fact, it looked almost like Sawada was fighting drunk; his swings missing systematically and his balance challenged by every hit he took._

 _Finally, the figure pinned the fifteen year old down and pointed the peak of his spear to his neck. Sawada was out of breath, and the figure barely had a hair out of place._

 _By then, Viviane could make out a dark green trench coat, black gloves, a pale, freckled skin, polished shoes, and a shock of curly red hair._

 _"_ _Do not get in my way, Yoshimune-sama," Eric told Sawada in a confident, calm voice, "I_ will _harm you if I must."_

 _And that was why acting nice with people around you was important._

 _"_ _The top tier of the Kokuyo group is missing," Sawada sneered, "making_ you _the boss of the branch. And now I catch you sneaking around Archives? Conveniant…_ and _suspicious."_

 _Viviane frowned. Was Eric a traitor? If he was, it probably was Sawada's fault for being an ass - but still._

 _"_ _I have no patience for your games, Yoshimune-sama," Eric cooly declared, "you knew very well it was me before coming down here. If you've come just to hinder my-"_

 _"_ _Fifth shelf from the back, boxes labelled 'PAN'," Sawada interrupted._

 _Eric froze._

 _"_ _Hide passed me the information after the meeting," Sawada added, raising his hand to show a crumpled note, "I just didn't think_ you'd _be the one going after it until I felt your flames."_

 _"_ _My family is under attack, Yoshimune-sama," Eric growled, his eyes lighting up with a cold, controlled fire that just screamed 'dangerous', "I will_ not _sit around while my mentors are in danger."_

 _"_ _My father told you to step down."_

 _"_ _The Tenth is hiding something about the disappearances," Eric retorted, "and I_ will _find out what even if it means dragging the whole Vongola family to Hell. I do not hold any grudge against you, Yoshimune-sama, but do_ not _doubt my ability to kill_ anyone _who comes in my way."_

 _"_ _Get in your way?" Sawada chuckled, a recklessly gleeful smirk making its way on his face, "You must be fucking kidding me. This is great!"_

 _"_ _Pardon me?" Eric frowned, his spear lowering slightly._

 _"_ _This. This_ you _," Sawada elaborated, laughing, "this anger!" He sat up, startling Eric into leaning backwards and startling Viviane too through his twisted excitement, "the loyal soldier selling his country for his parents! This is fucking_ gold _!"_

 _"_ _If you're stalling me," Eric warned, unable to finish his threat as Sawada cut him off._

 _"_ _You said it yourself, Eric," Sawada grinned, the use of Eric's name not going unnoticed by anyone, "you know my Hyper Intuition and I know your skill. You know that If I_ wanted _to stop you, I'd have brought someone who actually has a_ chance _at beating you," he paused, "If someone like that actually exists. We're here to_ help _."_

 _"_ Excuse me? We?" _Viviane spluttered, "I'm_ already _on the Tenth's bad side, I'd rather_ not _get caught snooping around again!"_

 _"_ _I mean no offence but it is not in your character to assist me," Eric pointed out, "and - Sorry, did you just say 'caught snooping around…_ again _'?"_

 _Viviane cringed as both Sawada and Eric turned to look at her with eyebrows raised._

 _"_ _Uhm, yeah," she grimaced, "I was kind of caught breaking into this mansion a few months ago. That's why I'm stuck with you. It's my punishment."_

 _"_ _How far did you make it?" Sawada suddenly asked._

 _"_ _Third floor. I got caught by that pervert who wants to bite people," Viviane answered, immediately becoming suspicious at his interested look. Her eyes narrowed, "…Why?"_

 _"_ _So you could get us in any door we don't know the code to?" Sawada elaborated._

 _"_ _Oh no," Viviane strongly enunciated, pointing her finger at the two young mafiosi sitting on the floor in warning, "no, no, no._ No _."_

 _Sawada smirked ominously, "That was one 'no' too many," he said, standing up and offering a hand to Eric as he reread the memo Hide had given him, "Let's go find out which door needs unlocking then."_

 _"_ _Are you really going to help me?" Eric asked skeptically as he pulled himself up._

 _"_ _No, I'm making you a deal," Sawada corrected, "We help you with this investigation, and you_ never _pretend in front of me again."_

 _"_ _I never-"_

 _"_ _You stop trying to be a fucking robot. You stop putting your duty to my father before your own selfish desires. You speak your mind. You speak it to my face and you speak it loudly. I do not like talking to facades of people."_

Yoshi stared at his father in a calculated silence. He may not like the boy, but he had to respect the stand he was making against his tutor. It took courage and confidence, two things the young Tenth did not have in abundance.

"Do not expect thanks," he finally told the Tenth, his voice devoid of any emotions.

The young Tenth nodded, aware that a blank statement from Yoshi was as close as he would get to gratitude.


End file.
